Devon Sawa sat down with The Direct to talk all about his latest horror film, Heart Eyes, which offers a unique blend of a slasher rom-com experience for audiences.
The film follows Olivia Holt's Ally McCabe and Mason Gooding's Jay Simmonds who end up in the crosshairs of the Heart Eyes Killer, a maniac who massacres couples on Valentine's Day, after being mistaken for a heartthrob duo.
Heart Eyes is unlike most other horror films out there. Not only is it intensely gory, but it also offers a fun rom-com, dark comedy spin to the horrific events unfolding—including the surprise identity of the titular killer.
Sawa plays Detective Zeke Hobbs, a fairly incompetent, hardass cop who is working the case of the Heart Eyes Killer's ongoing massacre.
Heart Eyes Killer Twist Addressed by Devon Sawa
"I Saw the Heart Eyes Villain for the First Time, and It Blew My Mind..."
- The Direct: "Did that killer look as good in person as he did on screen, because I really love the design that they went with."
Devon Sawa: Yeah, Tony Gardner came up with that design. Who I worked with on Chucky. When I read the script, and even as I was flying there to New Zealand, I had imagined like a Heart Eyes emoji, and there was going to be some version of this heart eyes emoji. And the first thing I did when I landed is, they wanted me to come to set because they wanted me to go to a wardrobe-fitting thing right from the airport.
And I walked on, they asked me to go to set to meet Josh and the cast. They were shooting a scene, and I saw the Heart Eyes villain for the first time, and it blew my mind. It was done in a way that was perfect for Josh's tone. It was the Damascus detailed and simple and scary, but yet romantic, and I don't know it just they nailed it. Tony Gardner's team absolutely killed.
After Ovilia Holt's Ally McCabe and Mason Gooding's Jay Simmonds think they've killed the Heart Eyes killer roughly an hour into the killer, they separate to try to collect their thoughts and move on from what's happened.
Turns out the Heart Eyes killer isn't done, however. Instead, it's revealed that the whole persona has been perpetrated by three different people.
The ringleaders were Detective Jeanine Shaw (Jordana Brewster) and David (Yoson An), a couple who have a fetish for brutally murdering couples on Valentine's Day.
The Heart Eyes Killer, who Ally and Jay thought they murdered, was a fanboy named Eli (Vinnie Bennett), who just wanted to be included in the duo's twisted games.
- The Direct: "I was hoping that you would be the secret killer, but, you know, you died. But ironically, while you weren't the secret killer, your partner was, how did, how did Hobbes not pick up on anything?"
Devon Sawa: You know, I don't know. She is slick. You know, she had that other personality going before we reveal she's the menacing killer at the end. And I think Hobbs is just so in love with her. He's so goo goo gaga over her. But, yeah, I think that everybody thought that I was the killer. I think the internet was like, 'Oh God, it's so obvious. It's gonna be Devon. Oh god. It's like, you know...' it was just that douchey kind of cop guy, you know, that's who you would expect.
- The Direct: "If Hobbs were to have found out, do you think he would have been, like, truly shocked, or would he try to play it off?"
Devon Sawa: "I totally think Hobbs would have tried to join the team... Or he would have been super jealous of the boyfriend. Yeah, he would have been super—I think he would have taken out the IT guy in a fit of jealousy."
Devon Sawa's Bloody First Day on Heart Eyes
Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for Heart Eyes.
"My White Shirt Was Just Drenched In Blood..."
- The Direct: "First topic I wanted to talk about is just like, you know, some of the kills are really, really brutal, and you just as your character, gets to go through some of these crime scenes. And that first crime scene is just all over the place, and just watching you, like, pick through all the guts. Like, how gross and also fun was that just to be able to play around and just pick through the crime scene?"
Devon Sawa: That was day one, and that kind of set the tone for me and Jordan as characters. I remember being there and having this crime scene, thinking to myself that we were walking all over it. We were touching everything. We were the blood was getting all over our wardrobes, but no one seemed to care. And that was funny in itself.
It's like we were completely ruining this crime scene. The two head detectives are just ruining it. And it was just kind of an afterthought. We're just doing the scene, and at the end of the day, my white shirt was just drenched in blood... It was so much fun that first day.
- The Direct: "You don't make it too long in the movie. I was rooting for you, but you're picked off pretty early. What was it like filming that death scene? "
Sawa: It was a lot of fun... It was nuts.... It was a brutal death. I've had my share of death on-camera scenes and other shows, and this one was one of the good ones for sure.
The Humor In Heart Eyes' Horror Rom-Com
"We Had to Absolutely Commit To It..."
- The Direct: "This is a hilarious movie, even just simple scenes, like the interrogation. Every now and then, I felt like maybe you guys could have easily cracked up while filming it. You know, were there any laughing fits between you guys and some of these scenes?"
Devon Sawa: No because, there was, we shot so many versions of so many [versions of the] scenes. [Director and writer] Josh Ruben comes from the world of comedy, and he let us go really, really big at times and really, really grounded at times. And so those big, I guess losing it probably would have come after those, those big scenes, but we always stayed in it. But what is on screening is kind of Josh's like end product, where he thought was the tone, but we went, we were all over the place, but we stayed pretty in it.
- The Direct: "I know one of the biggest reactions from my theater when I watched it was the Hobbs and Shaw joke. People just found that hilarious, especially the meta element to it."
Sawa: It's funny because I think, personally myself, I didn't know when I read it on paper, I was [like]really? Are we really gonna do this? And we had to absolutely commit to it and play it just as grounded as possible. And I'm glad they kept it in. I'm glad we didn't lose that line because every time I've seen it, like four or five times now, and that is one of the lines that everybody kind of just loses their shit over."
- The Direct: "You are very well known for your work in the horror genre, obviously. What's something that you feel like this movie did that none of your other projects in that sphere have done before."
Sawa: This is my first slasher film. I don't know if you call Chucky [a slasher]... This is an original film. I don't think anybody's ever done a rom-com and inserted a slasher villain into it. So, it's obviously just different than everything I've done because it's different than anything anybody's done, really.
- The Direct: "It's a great film in general, but it's also just a great Valentine's Day film. And so I wanted to ask you, hypothetically, kind of what is your dream holiday-themed horror movie you know that you'd love to partake in?"
Sawa: I always thought, like, a hallmark-y type Christmas movie where someone goes insane and starts hacking people up in a holiday environment, where everybody's wearing crappy sweaters and eating, you know, just some sort of Christmas film, or a holiday film where things just get nuts and bloody and I always wanted to.
The entire interview can be viewed here:
Heart Eyes is now playing in theaters worldwide.
