Devon Sawa Accepts No Limits

In the action drama Extreme Ops, Sawa, 24, plays Will, a cameraman who risks his life making commercials with extreme sports stars.

While filming a commercial in Austria involving skiers and snowboarders, Will and his crew stumble on a terrorist plot and have to use all their skills to stay alive.

One of the film's more mind-boggling stunts involves a pair of snowboarders being pulled by a speeding train. The stunt is captured by Will who is strapped under the train.

That really is Sawa under the train.

"When I read the script, I didn't know I was going to be doing the stunt. I assumed it would be on of my stunt doubles under the train with close-ups of my face," says Sawa in an interview from his home in Los Angeles.

"I was petrified when (director) Christian Duguay said he wanted me to do it. By the time I arrived on set they already had all the harness set up under the train."

It took three hours to film the stunt and Sawa still recalls "the adrenalin rush was incredible because the wheels of the train were less than three feet away from me on either side."

In his other extreme moments, Sawa was also suspended from a building in Vancouver and a cliff in Austria.

"Whenever any of us actors were involved in a stunt, there was a safety meeting in the morning and another in the afternoon.

"Everything was monitored very closely and we had the top stunt directors in the business working with us and with the more than 170 stunt men from all over the world who participated in the film's major stunts."

Sadly, everyone involved with Extreme Ops was aware of how dangerous these extreme stunts can be even when every precaution is taken.

During pre-production for Extreme Ops, German producer Werner Koenig was killed by an avalanche on one of the mountains featured in the film.

"There's no question the danger of the unexpected is always present. Christian was there when his friend Werner was caught in the avalanche. The film is dedicated to Werner," says Sawa

After his exhilarating experience on Extreme Ops, Sawa was looking for a change of pace so he accepted a light romantic comedy ironically called Extreme Dating.

"For me, that one didn't involve anything extreme."

Sawa is going to produce as well as star in his next project, a horror film called Trespassing.

"James Merendino who directed me in SLC Punk! brought me the script for Trespassing and I decided I wanted to produce, as well as act.

"We want to do it in the style of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We are just finalizing the financing and hope to begin shooting by mid-January."

Back 12.31.2007.