Devery Jacobs On Playing An Indigenous Queer Character

Trigger warning: This story mentions suicide. 

If there’s one trait that actor Devery Jacobs shares with the queer, Indigenous cheerleader they play in the new movie Backspot, it’s their determination and commitment. It’s not just that our video call takes place at 7 a.m. on a Monday and that they show up alert and enthusiastic to spend the next hour talking to me. Nor is it that Backspot, which is set in the high-stress world of high school competitive cheerleading (and which Jacobs co-produced as well as stars in), was shot over just 17 days of demanding filming. It’s also that it took Jacobs and director D.W. Waterson over six years to bring it to life, determined to make exactly the movie they wanted without compromising.