The ‘Casper’ teen heartthrob talks to Thrillist about playing opposite Jean Smart.
In the sixth installment of this time of year of HBO Max’sHacks , Ava ( Hannah Einbinder ) wonder where her boss Deborah Vance , played by Jean Smart , has travel . They are in Memphis at a legal community with a mechanically skillful bull . Deborah ’s personal vingt-et-un trader - slash - friend Kiki ( Poppy Liu ) explain , nervelessly , " She ’s about to get her titties sucked by a 40 year - sometime . " That 40 year - old happens to be played by erstwhile stripling heartthrob Devon Sawa .
You ’d be forgiven for doing a double take . Sawa , the star ofCasperandFinal Destination , now has a gravelly voice and is cake in tattoos . His character ’s rendezvous with Smart ’s Deborah is deeply sexy and blessedly sweet-scented . This guy , who works at FedEx , genuinely does n’t know she ’s a clowning superstar . He ’s just into her . They have a adorable , familiar night together , and she leaves in the aurora , feel desire and refreshed . ( He may be clueless as to who she is , but his roommates are well aware . They have her spice rack . )
Sawa hopped on Zoom with Thrillist to discuss going head to head with Smart , and surprising fans . And , also , we made him rosiness .
HBO Max
Thrillist : How did this role come to you ?
Devon Sawa : I just got prosperous . I do n’t watch out a lot of goggle box . This is one of the display I do watch because I was capable to binge the whole first time of year in a weekend . I already loved it . I will be completely dependable with you , though . When I got the audition for it , it saidHacks . I was so worked up . And then it did n’t say Jason , it said Sexy FedEx Guy . And I ’m like , " What ? Sexy FedEx Guy ? I ’m not play a Sexy FedEx Guy ! I ’m going backwards in my vocation ! I ’m not doing this . " I do n’t know why they wrote that in there . But it was a really good part and it was all with Jean Smart and so it was a no - brainer .
What was it like when you got on stage set ?
I ’ve been doing this a while but because there were so many Emmys necessitate in this show I got to ready and I was in my trailer and I was pace and my core was thump in my chest . I was like , " Are they going to care me ? Are they not move to like me ? Am I move to be rum ? Am I not going to be funny ? Should I be funny ? " All this was going through my head word and I remember [ carbon monoxide gas - creator ] Paul [ W. Downs ] , who directed the installment , and the producers total and they criticize and they introduced themselves and I was still queasy .
An hour go by and I get this knock and I ’m like , " Yeah ? " And it ’s like , " Hello , it ’s Jean . " I ’m like , " Oh my God ! Uh , uh … " So I open up the door and she introduced herself to me and she said , " Welcome , " and , " I ’m glad you ’re here , " and , " This is going to be so much fun . " And she was in full Deborah . And the nerves just went away and we went off and did the car scene and I followed her lead because it ’s her show . She just made it feel very prosperous and it was a lot of merriment . It experience like a shop with a really gifted creative person I respected .
How so ?
I ’ve been doing this so long and she ’s been doing this so long and it just felt sport to play with another artist . And we ’ve have these well - written scenes on this well - written show . Everybody ’s at the top of their biz and we can just be comfortable and it felt secure and we explored and it was amazing . It was really a great deal of fun . You leave set and you go , " That ’s why I do what I do . To work with the great unwashed like that . " I remember I did hooey with Sharon Stone and Guy Pearce on dissimilar things that felt the same way . You ’re working with these well - oiled simple machine , you know what I mean ?
You ’ve been a heartthrob and in this you ’re play someone who is an object of affection , but on the other side of celebrity . Did you think about that at all ?
I did n’t . I want to think of this as two people on the exact same [ tier ] . I did n’t call back about a lot of things purposely . I just wanted the aspect to be authentic between two people . I wanted it to feel really lovely and natural and grounded and organic . I purposely did n’t require to think about the age thing . the great unwashed kept mentioning it to me and I was like , " Not of import to me . "
Who kept mention it ?
It take people a moment to recognize you and relate the dot in their head . What has it been like watching that unfold on Twitter ?
Well , it ’s weird read how many hoi polloi did n’t recognize me until the credits or they did n’t recognize me at all until somebody told them . Over the last two geezerhood I ’ve been playing all these weird characters . OnChucky , I have these uncanny prosthetics . This was as close to my every day being , I suppose .
What was that like ? Playing the " sexy guy rope " with all these tattoos ?
It was gentle . For instance , [ the movie]Hunter Huntercame out and the same thing happened but opposite . It ’s like , " Oh my God ! That ’s what he looks like now ? " Because I had this byssus and I was fume and it was like a really knobbed fop . So it was nice . It was prissy to be neat - slash and looking secure , I suppose . You ’re make me blush .
I know you ’re on Twitter a lot . So you were monitoring the reaction to your appearance , right ?
Yeah . A small bit . I ’m guilty of that . It was well received .
How would societal media that have change your experience when you were a kid in this business ?
There ’s so many things that are dissimilar than when I was a Thomas Kid in acting . Like those teen magazines . I ask to be in those teen mag . I did n’t ever require to be in those teen magazine . But you would n’t need to be in them with Twitter . First of all , you never got paid from teen magazine anyways . No one did . But we made them money so why not just do it yourself on Twitter ? You roll in the hay what I mean ? But Twitter really is going downhill very quickly . From when I started it in like 2009 or 2008 or whatever when it was 90 per centum electropositive and 10 percentage toxic , it ’s really kind of flipped the shift . You ca n’t just go to Twitter anymore and have a practiced sentence without seeing some daftness . But it ’s definitely a good way to get your stuff out there .
How does it find when people are excited to substantiate it ’s you in the sequence ?
I attempt to cherish everything now . When I was in my other 20s and I did picture show likeFinal DestinationI did n’t appreciate it the agency I should have . And it was more of import about which clubs and parties , this and that . I burnt out really hard and I took a break . And now that I fare back and I ’m doing matter otherwise , I ’ll never take for grant what I have . Like now that this sequence is out , I ’m onChuckyand I ’m working , it ’s just like I ’m never going to not be appreciative of it anymore . It ’s a dissimilar impression . Like I should have felt this way while shootingFinal Destinationbut I did n’t . I just matte like it was always going to be this style . Always going to be number one on the call sheet . There are always go to be movies . And it could go at any clock time . It does n’t matter what happens . So , I ’m in a effective place and I ’m on two peachy shows and I get under one’s skin a beautiful family .
