It turns out that Eminem‘s memorable “Stan” music video reportedly almost had a different lead actor.
Devon Sawa, who starred in it, did a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight where he revealed that directors Dr. Dre and Philip Atwell were aiming for another child star — but it didn’t work out.
“Full disclosure: they went out to Macaulay Culkin first, I believe,” Sawa said. “I think that they wanted him, and he wasn’t available, or didn’t want to do it or whatever.”
“Then Dre, who had just seen Final Destination and was a fan, suggested [me],” he added. “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.”
Looking back on it, it seems wild to picture the Home Alone star playing a character that idolized and imitated Eminem in 2000. However, when Entertainment Tonight reached out to Culkin and Eminem’s representatives, they didn’t return a comment to confirm.
Although the part could’ve gone to someone else, Sawa did point out just how lucky he still feels to have been selected. “It’s also one of the proudest things I’ve been a part of,” he shared. “I’ll tell you one thing, I know it better now than I did that day. Because I’ve heard it millions of times since.”