More than two decades later, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Devon Sawa playing the titular role in the unforgettable music video for Eminem’s 2000 classic, “Stan,” but the actor has revealed Macaulay Culkin was the first choice to star in the visual.
“They went out to Macaulay Culkin first,” Sawa told Entertainment Tonight in a recent interview. “I think that they wanted him, and he wasn’t available, or didn’t want to do it or whatever.”
Thankfully for Sawa, Dr. Dre (who directed the video) was a fan of his work in Final Destination and suggested him instead. “There happened to be somebody in the casting office that knew somebody who was friends with me, and they called me that way… and it ended up working out pretty good,” Sawa explained, adding that the video was “one of the proudest things I’ve been a part of.”
Sawa also recalled dealing with Dre’s infamous perfectionism on set: “I’ll never forget, they told me on the day that I was going to lip-sync it. I remember, after the first take I did, Dre running in and being like, ‘It was good, but can you try it with some rhythm this time?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ And that was kind of how the day went.”
In the video for “Stan,” Sawa plays a particularly obsessed fan of Eminem, who gets increasingly angry and violent toward his girlfriend (played by Dido, whose vocals were sampled for the track). For the part, the actor bleached his hair and put on a white tank top to echo the rapper’s appearance. Revisit it below.
It’s highly unlikely Culkin would have wanted to take on any role at the time when the “Stan” visual was filmed. He retired from acting after 1994’s Richie Rich, and didn’t make his return until a 2003 cameo on Will & Grace.
Culkin’s appeared in films and TV shows sporadically since then, notably starring in American Horror Story: Double Feature and joining all of his brothers for a recent episode of the animated series The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy. As for Sawa, he had a lengthy run on the CW series Nikita and currently stars in the Chucky TV show.
Eminem fans can expect a new album at some point this year, as revealed by Dr. Dre on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in March.