Final Destination star Devon Sawa has revealed that he was, in fact, the second choice for one of his most memorable projects.
The 45-year-old actor first rose to fame in the 1990s, playing youthful roles in films such as Casper and Little Giants.
In recent years, he has acquired a whole new fan base playing several characters in the horror comedy series Chucky about the iconic evil doll.
Now, however, Devon has told the story of one of the most famous roles from the beginning of her career and revealed that she almost didn’t get the part.
He was the fallback option after Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin turned down the role, Devon said. Entertainment tonight.
Devon Sawa has revealed that he was, in fact, the second choice for one of his most memorable projects; pictured last month
The 45-year-old rose to fame playing youthful roles in films such as Final Destination, in which he appears (left) with Amanda Detmer (center) and Ken Smith (right).
The project was Eminem’s beloved music video Stan, which was released in 2000 and featured Devon as the main character.
Stan is an Eminem superfan whose obsession with the rap star leads to disaster for both him and his pregnant girlfriend, played by English singer Dido.
Devon has now confessed: ‘They went with Macaulay Culkin first. I think they wanted him and he wasn’t available, or he didn’t want to do it or whatever.
Dr. Dre then “suggested” Devon because he “was a fan” of the 2000 film Final Destination, which featured Devon in the lead role.
“It turned out there was someone in the casting office who knew someone who was a friend of mine, and he called me that… and it ended up working out pretty well,” he recalled. “It’s also one of the things I’m most proud of.”
In Stan’s music video, Devon’s character takes on a strikingly similar appearance to Eminem and lip-syncs the song’s lyrics.
Devon recounted some initial awkwardness on set, saying, “I’ll never forget, they told me the day I was going to lip sync.”
The Vancouver native shared, “I remember after the first take I did, Dre ran in and was like, ‘That was good, but can you try it with some rhythm this time?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God.'” And that’s how the day went.
One of Devon’s best-known roles, which she played in 2000, was initially offered to Macaulay Culkin, who appears that year in rehearsals for the West End play Madame Melville.
However, one of his most famous projects was Eminem’s beloved music video Stan, which was released in 2000 and featured Devon as the main character.
Stan is an Eminem superfan whose obsession with the rap star leads to disaster for both him and his pregnant girlfriend, played by English singer Dido.
In Stan’s music video, Devon’s character takes on a strikingly similar appearance to Eminem and lip-syncs the song’s lyrics.
He said fondly, “But it’s such an iconic video.” Dr. Dre was there, D12 was there, I think Snoop was wandering around Cypress Hill. “It was such a wild three days of filming that it was incredible.”
As for the lyrics, he admitted: “I’ll tell you what, I know it better now than I did that day.” Because I’ve heard it millions of times since then.
A few years ago, Devon was asked about Stan’s music video on what was then known as Twitter and described the atmosphere on set as “a big party.”
Devon, who was 22 when the video came out, confessed that he was “already a little dark in my early 20s,” which made it easier for him to play the disturbing role.