A forever bond! Devon Sawa and Jonathan Taylor Thomas became friends while working on 1997’s Wild America — and hopefully, will work together again one day.
“I had a great time on that [movie]. Jonathan was amazing to work with. I remember we did school together and we had tons of great times,” Sawa, 42, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting his new USA series, Chucky. “I spoke to [Jonathan] recently, within the last year or so. I don’t keep in touch with him as much as I should, I think. He’s a great dude.”
The Fanatic actor added that he would love to connect with Thomas, 39, again.
“We should totally do a TV show or something. I don’t know if he wants to act anymore, I don’t know what he’s doing,” Sawa added. “I need to have a serious one-hour lunch sit-down, figure out what that guy wants to do! ‘You should be acting! Forget this Harvard nonsense, you should be acting!’”
The I’ll Be Home for Christmas star, for his part, was photographed for the first time in nearly eight years in June. In photos obtained exclusively by Us, the Home Improvement alum, 39, was walking his dog and vaping outside in Hollywood.
Both stars were extremely popular in the 90s, but the Tom and Huck star stepped away from the limelight after becoming a huge child star.
“You can’t be trapped in this bubble called the acting industry,” he told Premiere magazine in 1996. “The industry is neurotic and weird, and so when I go home and I play basketball with my friends, I’m not Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I’m just Jonathan. I don’t like hanging out with other actors and actresses.”
The next year, he reflected on fans appearing on the set of Wild America. ”It’s sometimes distracting to look over and see a whole group of girls staring and giggling,” he told The New York Times in 1997. “You are a part of their life, and there is a lot that is owed them. But it’s difficult because you want to make everyone happy, but if you try to do that, you’re setting yourself up for failure.”
Sawa also opened up about his time filming Wild America, joking that he got a bigger ego while on set.
“I was getting a little bit bigger and they were pushing me more like a star at that point. Whereas up until that point, like, on Now and Then, I was just a supporting actor,” he laughed. “They were starting the big push and my head was getting a little bit [bigger] and I was going to be a big star!”