Devon Sawa Talks ‘Heart Eyes,’ ‘Chucky,’ And ‘Final Destination 6’

“I didn’t know where it was going, and I was pleasantly surprised,” explains Devon Sawa as we discuss the Valentine’s Day-themed slasher movie Heart Eyes. “I was also surprised because the whole time I flew to New Zealand, I had this idea in my head that the outfit, the mask and everything, would be the emoji with the heart eyes on it.”

“When I got off the plane, the first thing they did was they brought me to set because they needed to do a wardrobe fitting, and I met with the director, Josh Ruben. Mason and Olivia were doing this scene with the Heart Eyes killer, and I saw the outfit for the first time, and it blew my mind. You instantly knew this is, ‘Hey, this, this is something that’s going to potentially be iconic. It’s going spawn multiple sequels.'”

Sawa plays Detective Zeke Hobbs, a cop on the tail of the titular killer who has a pair of co-workers mistaken for a couple in their sights. As a result, the targets, Ally, played by Olivia Holt, and Jay, played by Mason Gooding, must spend Valentine’s Day night running for their lives while Sawa’s Hobbs and Jordana Brewster’s Detective Shaw hunt the hunter. Rated R, Heart Eyes lands exclusively in theaters on Friday, February 7, 2025.

When he read the script, Sawa, who has achieved genre icon status thanks to his work in Final Destination, Idle Hands, and the Chucky TV series, says he knew it was a winner.

“You scroll through, and you see what it is, and I knew before reading the whole thing. I look at each script like, ‘Is it something different that I haven’t done? Is it challenging, or would I rent, watch, or see it? Those are the most important things,” the actor says. “At some point in my career, I started thinking, like, ‘I just want to do stuff that I would go and see. Why would I want to do this when I would never watch that in a million years? Why not do what I would want to watch?'”

“If this particular project didn’t have a cast it did, then it could be goofy and over the top and not work. However, you’ve got Olivia and Mason, who are grounded in their comedy, Josh Ruben directing, and this phenomenal team, and you know it will work. It’s going formula going in. Chucky had that as well. We knew where everybody fit.”

Devon Sawa Only Has Eyes For ‘Heart Eyes’

As is often the case, the fates of certain characters are sealed, and others are left open-ended with a big old question mark hanging over them. Even Sawa isn’t sure about Hobbs’s Heart Eyes fate.

“The Scream movies are the masters of that,” he muses. “Things and characters that you didn’t expect to come back do, so you never know. Who knows? I might get a call in ten years saying, hey, guess what you were doing part eight, and we’re bringing you back and, or maybe it’s the next one. I don’t know, but I do see Heart Eyes having legs. I see Mason and Olivia doing a bunch of these and see the film being very successful. As far as my character, I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

Heart Eyes does a great job of filling a hole in the continually popular holiday horror genre, and Black Friday’s Sawa admits it’s a niche itch he was keen to scratch.

“Holiday horror movies are the in thing again. It’s good to approach a holiday and have your holiday list of things to put on, whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever, and there’s not a lot of Valentine’s Day movies other than My Bloody Valentine and now this one. It’s something to put on the list of films to watch during the season.”

When it comes to his character, Sawa, who kicked off his career with 90s gems Casper, Little Giants, and Now and Then, admits he relished getting to play “a douchebag” and knew exactly where to go for inspiration.

“I instantly thought of this guy on social media. You see those viral videos of people filming the cops and trying to get away with whatever it is. I thought it’d be one of those guys who think they’re above the law, the guys that would plant evidence to get the conviction,” the actor laughs. “He says all the wrong things because he refuses to evolve, and it was an interesting character to play. I love that I get to explore all these different guys in my later life.”

There’s also an edge of Clint Eastwood’s classic character, Dirty Harry when it comes to having a big ego and a regressive attitude.

“I’ll take it. Dirty Harry rocks, but I guess if you re-watch it nowadays, he is a bit of a dick, isn’t he?” the actor muses. “Zeke wasn’t inspired by Dirty Harry, exactly, but you’re right, he’s absolutely like those cops from those 80s films, the walk on the marks, say something real kind of guy for sure. All those cops in those viral videos, when they walk up to the car, I think they’re channeling that 80s, Above the Law, Steven Seagal vibe.”

Not all of what was written on the page to play into the persona made it to the final cut, even with the film’s R-rated canvas to paint on. They did film it, though.

“There was stuff that, when I read it, I was like, ‘I can’t say that. In today’s environment, I can’t say that,’ but I said it because it was on the script,” Sawa recalls. “My path was like, ‘Okay, the writers wrote it, and it’s a character, so I’m going to say it,’ but it eventually got cut because it was too out there. I don’t know if I surprised Jordana, but it was interesting. There’s a lot of stuff that might make a director’s cut or some selected scenes thing where I’ll surprise some people with some pretty nasty, chauvinistic stuff.”

Why ‘Heart Eyes’ Is One Of The Projects Devon Sawa Is Proud To Champion

It took less than 12 months to get Heart Eyes from a first meeting to the screen. Director Josh Reuben pitched the idea to the production company Spyglass Media on Valentine’s Day 2024. 51 weeks later, audiences will get to see the finished product. How did they turn it around so quickly?

“I’m glad you brought that up because no one really talked about this. The shoot in New Zealand was incredibly comfortable compared to what we’re used to in America and Canada because they have a ceiling of ten hours, and that’s it,” Sawa reveals. “They had to put everything into warp speed because it’s either do that and miss Valentine’s Day, which means you have to save it for another year, or it’s all hands on deck. We said, ‘Let’s get this thing done and prepared’. No corners were cut, but the post and the promotion schedules were tightened. A lot.”

Heart Eyes is also one of the films Sawa has gone to great lengths to promote on social media, such as Hunter Hunter. While he admits it is his “responsibility to promote anything that I do to some extent,” his Heart Eyes cheerleading is all him.

“It will be very obvious which ones I love and that hold a special place in my heart. Heart Eyes definitely does. Chucky too, massively,” he confirms. “I saw this film and am proud of what my co-stars did. I’m proud of what Josh and the crew have done, so hell yeah, I’m going to talk about it. I’m going to enjoy this with them, and I hope I can get as many people in those seats as possible so that maybe we can do it again. I saw the rough cut a couple of months ago, so I got a feel for it, and then Sony brought us in a few weeks ago, and we saw the completely locked down version, all the effects were in, and everything.”

Having brought up Chucky more than once, does he know what is happening following the show’s cancellation after three seasons? A fourth season had been pitched to NBCUniversal but not greenlit, however, there is hope Chucky could find a new home.

“If I was in Vegas, I’d bet the house that you’re going see some more Chucky stuff. It sells a lot of t-shirts, cereal, and lunch boxes, so one way or another, we’re getting more Chucky content. Am I going to be in it? I hope so. I have not heard one way or another,” Sawa confesses. “I think there’s a changing of the guard as far as producers and whatnot. I don’t know the full story. They don’t tell me a lot. I hope and pray that I go back because it is, along with Final Destination and Idle Hands and the Stan video, one of those projects that I put up on the shelf, and I’m very proud of.”

We’re only a few months out from the next installment in the Final Destination franchise that the Canadian actor helped launch. Can we expect a cameo in the long-delayed Final Destination: Bloodlines?

“I’m not in it,” he reveals with zero hesitation. “Every movie has been a cast of new kids. Teo Briones, who played my son in the first season of Chucky, is in it, and so I’m rooting for him. I’ve seen every Final Destination movie in the theater. I can’t wait to see what the new cast does with it. Maybe one day in the future; who knows? I’m not this one. I hear it’s really good, though.”