FILM
Behind the Scenes of “See For Me”
Non-binary actor Skyler Davenport discusses role in fi lm
BY GARY M. KRAMER
“See for Me,” a nifty
riff on “Wait Until
Dark,” is a tense
and suspenseful
thriller about Sophie (Skyler
Davenport), a blind ex-skier
who takes a cat sitting job at a
lavish, remote home belonging to
Debra (Laura Vandervoort). When
she gets locked out of the house,
Sophie downloads the app “See
for Me,” and connects with Kelly
(Jessica Parker Kennedy) who acts
as her eyes. Sophie relies on Kelly
again when a trio of thieves break
into the house hoping to steal $7
million hidden inside. But Sophie
soon decides to help the crooks,
not turn them in, in exchange for
a portion of the cash, and before
long, Sophie is fi ghting for her life
(with Kelly’s help).
Davenport, who is legally blind
and non-binary, impresses in their
fi rst on-screen leading role as the
amoral Sophie. In a recent phone
interview, Davenport, who has had
an established career doing voiceovers
for video games, chatted
with Gay City News about making
“See for Me.”
You work mostly in voice acting.
This is your fi rst on-screen
leading role. Can you discuss
your decision to make this fi lm
and how it appealed to you about
it?
I moved to Los Angeles to do
on-camera work. It wasn’t an outof
the-blue decision. I had an audition
and had a callback, and a
callback, and then got it. When I
read the script initially, I loved that
she kind of joins the criminals
— I did not see that coming. I feel
like people don’t think of an action
thriller and assume that the lead
would be disabled. I liked that,
and that the fi lmmakers made her
so human in her decisions. It was
survivalist, which is what a lot of
people would do — that was cool.
Sophie’s mother is both an advocate
and an obstacle for her.
Sophie reluctantly gets assistance
from Kelly, and often has
to place trust in others. How did
Skyler Davenport in “See For Me.”
you develop that element of her
character? She fi ercely wants to
be independent but does need
help.
One of the things about her when
we did table read was that she went
from being hardheaded to feeling
that vulnerable side where she
cracks and gives in to asking for
help. In my personal experience,
when I lost my eyesight, it was the
opposite. I was reluctantly asking
for help, but it didn’t come from a
place of “Let me do this myself,” it
came from a guilty place. I had lost
my job, I had lost my relationship,
I couldn’t drive all of a sudden. I
had lost everything. It was more
depressive guilt, whereas Sophie
is trying to maintain the persona
and life she had before vision loss.
She wanted to think that nothing
changed. It was fun to explore that
because it was very different from
what I went through. I love that because
she was a skier prior to her
vision loss. I like that she never really
loses the drive and desire to go
back to that career. She’s still focused
on something she had before
she lost her sight. A lot of people
change or adjust certain dreams
because something happens, and I
don’t think it is always necessary.
IFC MIDNIGHT
Sophie is amoral, wanting to
steal and resell expensive wine,
and decides to help the burglars.
I like that she wasn’t goody two
shoes, or “inspirational,” but
viewers do root for her. What did
you think about her character?
It’s weird, it is, “I can’t quite hate
you, but I’m not sure if I like you,
either.” In the back of my mind, as
she has those harsher moments,
I tried to fi nd something that will
make people not necessarily like
you, but at least empathize with
you. You don’t want to be an angry
Eeyore all the time, because
that’s not interesting to watch. I
went more with something people
could understand and maybe empathize
with, but not necessarily
agree with. She is not bad; she is
troubled.
Can you talk about shooting
the “action” scenes, and handling
the fi lm’s gunplay?
They had to un-train me. I had
to do extensive fi rearms training,
which I had actually already had,
and they were like, “We’re going
to have make you not look like a
professional police offi cer, because
Sophie has never held a gun before.”
Those scenes were super fun
though, because you get to play
around with action, but they are
intense. A fi lm gun is a little different
than a real one. I did my original
fi rearms training with actual
rifl es. Film guns have a little recoil,
but a real gun has more kick to it.
Some of it is acting, some of it is
actual. It’s still dangerous.
You identify as non-binary,
and I often fi nd that folks are
cast because of their identity.
Did you encounter that with this
role?
When they cast me in this, they
had no idea how I identifi ed. After
I was cast, my manager gave them
a heads up and they were amazing
about it. It was the fi rst time in
my life when people made effort to
acknowledge it. They didn’t know
about my being non-binary because
I didn’t say anything.
Do you hope to do more onscreen
work, and even perform
in a queer fi lm in the future?
I would, absolutely! I did a short
fi lm, “The Shift” with Danny Trejo
in 2020. They asked me, “You’ve
had the top surgery, for female to
male, and you don’t identify as
male, but you’ve had the surgery.
Would you be comfortable showing
your scars for a second while
you are changing and picking out
clothes because the character you
are playing is going to transition?”
I said, “Yes! Thank you for asking!”
I would never do a shirtless scene
for a sexual purpose. But to show
that, I was excited. I never thought
I’d be excited about being shirtless
on camera!
What are you looking to do
next in your career?
I have some on-camera stuff
that I am looking to be in, and I am
working on about fi ve different video
games now. The voiceovers are
pure fun. It’s still acting, because
the games are getting more complex.
I do voice and facial capture
because the games are so real. I
can play a 5-year-old or 10-foot tall
alien.
“SEE FOR ME”| Directed by
Randall Okita | Opening January
7 in Theaters, on Digital Platforms
and VOD | Distributed by IFC Midnight
JANUARY 13 - January 26, 2 20 022 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
