Vancouver actress Tiera Skovbye goes from TV to Sundance with ‘Summer of ’84’

FILE: Tiera Skovbye (Photo: Tiera Skovbye/Facebook)

PARK CITY, Utah — Vancouver actress Tiera Skovbye, 22, plays the girl next door with a feminist spin in Canadian thriller “Summer of ’84,” which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this week.

Skovbye portrays 17-year-old Nikki, the former babysitter and current crush of 15-year-old Davey (played by Vancouver actor Graham Verchere of TV’s “Fargo”).

Davey and his three pals are convinced the too-friendly neighbouring cop with a passion for gardening (“Mad Men”’s Rich Sommer) is the serial killer behind the disappearance of local teen boys.

Armed with walkie-talkies and BMX bikes, the teens set out to solve the crimes.

Directed by Montreal-based filmmakers Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell, “Summer of ’84” leans heavily on 1980s films like “The Goonies” and “The ‘Burbs.”

The filmmaking trio, who work together as the collective RKSS (Roadkill Superstar), made their Sundance debut in 2015 with comedic action-horror “Turbo Kid” and developed a following among the genre-loving audiences of the festival’s popular Midnight program.

The boys of “Summer of ’84” initially spend their time flipping through adult magazines and trying to spy on Nikki, whose bedroom is opposite Davey’s. But learning more about Nikki leads Davey to see her in a new light. He insists the guys treat her as an equal rather than an object and Nikki becomes a leader in their detective work.

“I think it’s really cool that my character very easily could have just been written as those few scenes with Davey and the boys looking at her and objectifying her. That could have very easily just been my storyline,” said Skovbye of the script by Matt Leslie and Stephen J. Smith.

“This isn’t just about a couple of boys hunting,” added Skovbye. “It’s a group of friends and it doesn’t matter that there’s a female in there.”

Skovbye said she didn’t know what to expect when she arrived in Park City for the Sundance premiere of “Summer of ’84.”

“It was so much busier and crazier than I had anticipated,” she said of the festival started by actor-director Robert Redford to showcase independent film.

Skovbye was back in Vancouver right after the premiere to return to work on ABC’s storybook-fantasy series “Once Upon a Time,” where she plays Robin, the daughter of Zelena and Robin Hood. She’s also a regular on “Riverdale” as Betty Cooper’s older sister, Polly.

To get ready for her dive into the 1980s, she watched movies including “Stand By Me” and often used Madonna as an inspiration.

“We had a really amazing wardrobe and hair team, which helped me really get into the ’80s fashion and hairstyles, which always helps you embody a character and a different time period,” she said.

“As you get that hair and those clothes, you’re like, ‘OK, here we go.”’

Skovbye heads to Los Angeles next month for her fourth trip to pilot season. It’s the time when production companies hold huge casting sessions for test episodes of proposed TV shows and can lead to big things for an actor if a series is picked up.

“I feel very optimistic with ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘Riverdale’ and just having a film out of Sundance,” she said.

“I feel like I’m going down (to Los Angeles) with a little bit more weight behind me, so people might take more notice. It’s a very exciting and humbling feeling.”