Slackin' Off with Devon

Are there kids at your school who always cut corners and get away with it? You know the ones. They always seem to get extensions on their papers and somehow score an A on their chemistry exam even though you know they spent all semester blowing up test tubes and burning acid holes through their desks.

Well, those chumps in your school are about to be put to shame. This Friday, Slackers, a movie about three of the biggest and best scammers, cheaters and liars EVER, hits the big screen. Starring the always adorable Devon Sawa, the undeniably gorgeous James King and the quirky and hilarious Jason Schwartzman, the comedy, (which is rated R) contains some really funny, weird and even romantic moments, as well as some seriously explicit content, so please make sure you go see it with a parent or guardian if you're under 17!

I got a chance to check out the flick before it opened and meet some of its hot young stars, so I thought I'd give you the inside scoop on Slackers straight from the lips of Devon and James. Here's what they had to say...

Teenmag.com: So Devon, this movie gets pretty racy in parts. Were there any really crazy scenes that didn't make it into the final cut?

Devon Sawa: Well, I was naked for a whole day and they showed nothing, which makes me very upset because I was naked for a day. [Laughs.] No... It was expected. But at least they could have shown my butt, you know? We stood around naked for a whole day and it didn't make it in.

Teenmag.com: What a rip off! Did you try to get in good shape for your butt shot?

DS: Yeah, I did a lot of squats. Lot of squats. They had me on a no carbs diet, and working out, and this and that. As soon as a finished, I went back onto the all carbs diet, which is straight In 'n' Out Burger.

Teenmag.com: Speaking of semi-nudity, was it weird to shoot the romantic scenes with James King?

DS: You know, it was very easy because James King was very professional and just a sweetheart. We were two actors. We came on the set. It was a very closed set. It was maybe like five people. We came together, two actors, we did the scene, very professional, and it turned out great. There was good chemistry.

Teenmag.com: What about the fact that she's this big model and so beautiful? Wasn't that intimidating?

DS: Yeah, I was thinking about baseball and Spiderman so I wouldn't, you know, embarrass myself. [Laughs.] No, it was nothing like that. You know it's acting, it's a scene.

Teenmag.com: Slackers is about guys who make an art of cheating. What kind of student were you?

DS: I did a lot of on set schooling. So, basically, I had one teacher, which is the worst, because you've got this one teacher teaching you for four hours, looking over your shoulder. You can't skip class, you can't talk to your neighbor or flirt with the girls or whatever it is that real high school kids do.

Teenmag.com: Do you think you missed out a fun school experience then?

DS: You know, I didn't miss it, because I got to travel around different places and meet wonderful people. I missed things like prom and homecoming and stuff like that, but, eh, whatever.

Teenmag.com: When you were in school, was there anything you thought you might end up doing, instead of acting?

DS: No, I knew I wanted to act. I'm very fortunate, because I wasn't the best of students. My mom actually put me into acting to channel my energy, because I was a very hyper little guy. It didn't work [to channel my hyperness], but it paid off in the end.

Teenmag.com: How old were you then?

DS: 11.

Teenmag.com: You got into acting so early. How have you avoided the pitfalls of early success and fame?

DS: Oh, I've just stuck to drugs and alcohol. [Laughs.] Just kidding. There's not, to tell you the truth, a lot of pitfalls. I've been very fortunate. I've been working. I have a great team behind me, my mom and dad are very supportive, and I have a great girlfriend. It's actually been quite good. I've been very fortunate.

Teenmag.com: Is your girlfriend in the entertainment business as well?

DS: No, which I love. She's trying to be a makeup artist right now.

Teenmag.com: Doesn't that make it hard for your girlfriend when you have to do a scene with someone like James King?

DS: She understands that it's just acting. We've sat and talked about the fact that it's just two people coming to work, and it's just a job. I come home to her at the end of the day, and that's the way it is. I'm very respectful with what I do and what I tell her, and she takes it very well.

Teenmag.com: That's good. When you met your girlfriend, did she know who you were?

DS: No. She actually called me Darren for the first couple of times. I couldn't get it into her head. I was like, 'It's Devon.' 'OK Darren.' 'No it's Devon.' [Laughs.] I just gave up after a while. I was like, 'Darren, fine.'

Teenmag.com: How funny. But you must have girls coming up to you all the time.

DS: Not at places [I hang out at]. I guess my audience is a little younger, and so you just watch where you go. You don't want to go to the Beverly Center [mall] on a Friday after school. Then it's all over. [Laughs.]

Teenmag.com: Have you ever been mobbed by your fans?

DS: I actually made the mistake of going on a cruise to Mexico for New Years. We just didn't realize, "OK, we're going on a cruise, it's not school season." There must have been I don't know how many 14 or 15-year-old girls on that ship, and you're stuck on the ship. One time we were late getting back on the boat. We were late by like 20 minutes, and they must have repeated my name on the PA, and my room number, for about 15 minutes. So we were trapped in our room. People knocking, people calling, and we got seasick. It was just horrible. But that's pretty much the biggest mob.

Teenmag.com: I guess you won't be taking any more cruises. Do you remember the first time you realized you had fans?

DS: It was actually after I did Casper. It was overwhelming really. We got this big box, because they put me on the cover of those, you know, those Bop magazine thingies. They put me on the cover of one of those, and I just got this big [box of letters]. I was so excited. I must have read every one of them. It was pretty overwhelming. It was cool. It was nice actually to know that people actually like you.

Teenmag.com: You're in Eminem's "Stan" video, which deals with fan obsession. Have you ever had an experience like that?

DS: Fortunately, I haven't had anybody that crazy or anything do something like that. The weirdest one that I've had is I got a box, and I pulled out this brassiere. This huge, HUGE brassiere! And she must have taken a lock of her hair and put it in too. So it was a huge, hairy red brassiere. I don't know what they're thinking when they do this. 'I'm gonna put my brassiere, and a lock of hair, and he's gonna love it and marry me!' [Laughs.]

Teenmag.com: Yeah, I don't see how that could work. It's pretty funny though. So what other movies do you have coming up?

DS: I got a movie coming out in a few months called The Extremists, which is about five individuals who do extreme things—they snowboard, the skydive, they do it all—and they get mixed up with a group of terrorists, and things happen. It was fun. We shot it in Germany for five months. And then I might be starting another film in a couple of weeks, but we're just talking about that.

Teenmag.com: Are you an outdoorsy kind of guy?

DS: I am. I grew up in Canada, and so I was always up in the mountains skiing.

Teenmag.com: Have you done any extreme stuff like jump out of a plane?

DS: No, my uncle's trying to get me to do that, but I don't know yet. But I do kayaking, like ocean kayaking, and I've been rafting. On the set of the movie we actually—I guess there's no laws over there in Europe or something—they had us hanging off cliffs. They hung me under a train, a moving train, under two wheels of a moving train with this harness. My agent flipped.

Teenmag.com: Was that scarier than the naked butt shot?

DS: No, actually. It was much easier than doing the naked butt shot.

Back 12.31.2007.