Canadian born Actor Graham Verchere may still be a teenager, but he is doing great things. Appearing in such popular series as The Good Doctor, Fargo, and Once Upon a Time, as well as tackling voice-over for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, he has been slowly making a name for himself over the past few years. With roles in such films as 2017’s Woody Woodpecker, 2015’s Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow and the wonderful bestseller based Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library from 2017, Verchere’s career has been building towards something impressive.
Now, with the phenomenally fun and nostalgic Summer of 84 – which arrived to select theaters on Friday, August 10th, and will become available on VOD and Digital HD as of August 24th – Verchere steps into the lead role of Davey Armstrong, a teen who decides to take some dangerous matters into his own hands. Determined to prove that he is right and to save his town from the clutches of a serial killer, Davey – along with his ragtag group of friends – turn themselves into a Goonies-esque investigative team. Sure, there are fumbles, but the ride is a fully enjoyable one.
Taking a moment out of his busy schedule to sit down to discuss his burgeoning career, Verchere was open to discussing an array of topics, ranging from acting and all things Summer of 84, to the 1980s and his future stunt double.
CrypticRock.com – Let’s start out with an easy one: what got you into acting?
Graham Verchere – I have an easy answer, as well. My brother Toby and I – I have a twin brother – we both started acting at the same time because we had a cousin who was doing some acting, and we thought it looked really interesting and really fun. So, we signed up for an acting class and from there we got an agent and started getting commercials and stuff. He’s since stopped acting, but I kept going from there.
CrypticRock.com – Did the two of you ever get to act together?
Graham Verchere – Never in film. We’ve both done some theater stuff; we’ve both done shows together there, but we’ve never actually done anything together in film – which is funny. Although, he does a lot of sports, so we’ve joked about him wanting to be my stunt double. (Laughs)
CrypticRock.com – (Laughs) That would actually be really cool!
Graham Verchere – (Laughs) Yeah, it’s actually half-joking, because we actually both really want it to happen.
CrypticRock.com – Well, I’m sure you can make it happen if you want it bad enough! You’ve been acting now for about four years, yes?
Graham Verchere – Ah, yeah. Technically, I started like five or six years ago – I think I was ten – but I only started really actually getting roles about four years ago. (Laughs) So, yeah, pretty much.
CrypticRock.com – Well, you have worked on some pretty big-name TV series. Everything from The Good Doctor to Fargo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in your short career. What have been some of the most exciting things to happen in your career, thus far?
Graham Verchere – Oh man! There’s a lot of things, there’s a lot of answers to that question that I could give. I’m going to say one specific thing. That was, when I was filming Fargo, I had a chair – a cast chair in the green room – and it was right next to the chairs of Ewan McGregor, David Thewlis, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Carrie Coon. I saw it, and I was just like, “Wait. Okay, that’s pretty cool!” I freaked out a bit in my head, but I didn’t freak out outloud. Just in my head!
CrypticRock.com – Most actors would! (Laughs) Okay, so we are here to talk about Summer of 84, in which you star. What drew you to the role of Davey or to the film in general?
Graham Verchere – We read the script for it and I think that was the part that got me the most excited to do it, because it totally blew me away. There are plot twists that you don’t expect to happen; you don’t expect to see that in the movie, but it happens and it freaked me out a bit. I opened the script for the first time, and I didn’t put it down until I was done because it just drew me in. I think that got me really, really excited to be Davey.
CrypticRock.com – It is a great movie! Obviously, it is set in 1984. Clearly you were not a teen in the 1980s, but from shooting the film, did you get introduced to anything ‘80s that you now enjoy?
Graham Verchere – Oh, that’s a new one! I have to say we did some research about ‘80s stuff before we started filming. I’ve always been into ‘80s music – everyone should be! – but most of the ‘80’s stuff on set was like toys and props and stuff. My parents saw it and were like, “Oh my god, I had that when I was a kid!” (Laughs) But I wouldn’t say that I’m going to be using those any time soon. Leading up to filming, we started watching all of these ‘80s movies, and those were really fun. I’m very open to watching more of them.
CrypticRock.com – In the movie, they specifically mention 1984’s Gremlins. Have you seen Gremlins?
Graham Verchere – Oh, I still haven’t! I have to see that!
CrypticRock.com – You definitely have to see that, but it is unlikely you are going to be getting into any of the ‘80s clothing like you wear in the film.
Graham Verchere – Well, now that you mention it, I did keep some stuff from the movie; I did keep some costumes and props. I have a Casio watch in the movie, and Props let me keep that. I was very, very excited about it – I still wear it sometimes! There’s these shoes that are the most ridiculous thing: they are multi-colored, and they have comic books on the bottom. It’s crazy! Those are sitting upstairs in my room right now. (Laughs) I don’t think I’m ever going to wear them ever again, but I’m so happy that I have them just because.
CrypticRock.com – That is a great memory to have of the film, though.
Graham Verchere – Yeah, a souvenir!
CrypticRock.com – Okay, this is a perfect segue into the next question, which is do you have a favorite memory from the filming of Summer of 84?
Graham Verchere – I always have trouble picking out a favorite memory. For Summer of 84, I’m not able to pick one specific thing, but I usually say… In the first two days of filming, they took the four boys and we filmed all of the tree-house scenes first at the studio. So, they threw these four boys in a boiling hot, tiny, cramped room, and we filmed for that whole time. (Laughs) So, we really had to get to know each other quickly. There were some really, really funny moments that I still remember. It was really fun!
CrypticRock.com – That translates into the film, because you all look like you are having fun together. In fact, it seems very obvious that you did get along and really like each other.
Graham Verchere – Oh yeah! It’s hard because most of them live in LA, but, if it was possible, I know we’d definitely still be hanging out.
CrypticRock.com – That’s awesome. Now, to kind of ask somewhat of the reverse, do you have a hardest part of making the film?
Graham Verchere – Again, I want to say without spoiling it. On the last few days on set, we filmed all of the last scenes of the movie – which get pretty intense. So, those were pretty tiring days, especially because we only filmed really late at night. I think what makes it really cool is that, even though it was exhausting, it was still fun the whole time.
CrypticRock.com – It being exhausting adds to the authenticity of those scenes, too. Your character should be exhausted!
Graham Verchere – Exactly!
CrypticRock.com – (Laughs) Okay, so obviously, in the film, Davey is exhausted because he is trying to investigate and decide if his neighbor is a serial killer. Do you think you would be brave enough to go on a manhunt for a serial killer in real life?
Graham Verchere – Umm, know what? I don’t think I would go around spying on him. I’d maybe have a, “Wait a minute. That’s weird!” If I was really convinced, I might give an anonymous tip to the police or something, tell them what to look for, but I don’t think I would be brave-slash-stupid enough to go and actually spy on the neighbor who I think is a serial killer.
CrypticRock.com – That makes perfect sense! So, what’s next for you, careerwise?
Graham Verchere – Well, there’s some very, very exciting stuff that I can’t talk about just yet, but I’m very excited personally about that. I did a small bit on Supergirl, and you can still watch The Good Doctor – Season 2 is coming out soon. But yeah, some exciting stuff is coming – some very exciting roles that you will see soon.
CrypticRock.com – That’s wonderful and we look forward to seeing you in many more roles. To begin to wind down now, at CrypticRock.com, we cover music as well as movies, particularly Horror and Sci-Fi films. Are you a fan of either genre?
Graham Verchere – I never really considered myself a hardcore Horror fan, but I will always enjoy a good, freaky movie. I’m really bad at picking favorites, as you’ve figured out (Laughs), so I think a while back I decided that my favorite Horror movie was going to be Get Out (2017). And I’m standing by that!
CrypticRock.com – That’s a good one! Do you enjoy Sci-Fi?
Graham Verchere – I love Science Fiction.
CrypticRock.com – Do you like Star Wars?
Graham Verchere – Oh, of course, man, who doesn’t?
CrypticRock.com – Phew! If you said no, we were going to have a problem! (Laughs) Alright, to kind of twist the question and give us something to end on, do you have a favorite band?
Graham Verchere – My favorite band? Okay, that’s another hard one! I’m going to go back to the ‘80s, probably closer to the ‘70s, but I’m going to say Queen.
For more on Graham Verchere: Twitter | Instagram
For more on Summer of 84: summerof84movie.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Feature photos of Graham Verchere by Erich Saide
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