Seann William Scott looks back on his role in ‘Final Destination’ — and getting decapitated

Actor Seann William Scott talks with Yahoo Entertainment’s Ethan Alter about his role in the 2000 hit film “Final Destination,” and how his older brother “freaked out” when he saw his character be decapitated.

Video Transcript

ETHAN ALTER: I got the chance to talk to James Wong a few years ago. And he was talking about your casting. And he said that he, at first, didn't think you could do it because he had just seen "American Pie." You were Stifler. And he was like can he be a dork? And it sounds like you had to convince him of that. Do you remember how you convinced to win that part?

SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT: Well, I think I was just being myself. I was like dude, I'm such a dork. It didn't take long. [INAUDIBLE] he right, he remembered because it was the same producers as "American Pie" that did "Final Destination." And I think you're right, they probably saw that character. Like doesn't seem like Billy Hitchcock.

And then he probably spent two minutes with me, he's like he's good. He's good. He's a dork. Definitely a dork. You're hired, buddy.

ETHAN ALTER: The scene where you get decapitated is really fun and he sort of broke that down for us. What do you remember about that, having like a plaster head made and all that? What was that experience of having yourself decapitated on film?

SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT: Oh, the plaster head thing like I did not like that at all. Like because they said like people can freak out, right? I'm sure people have heard about and read about. You can go on YouTube and see like they do this whole thing. They wrap your head. You can't hear. You can't like-- I don't think you can hear, you can't breathe.

I had a full panic attack. And then I was like freaking out. Freaking out. And then they said-- I didn't want to say the actor's name, but they're like you're doing better than this guy. And I was like, oh, all right. Then I kind of settled into a little bit because I was like, I got to do better than that guy, right?

But the other thing too is that I've told this story a couple times actually, you can do what you want with it but I just remembered it. When the movie came out, my older brother was in Minnesota and watching it in theaters. And when my head got cut off, he had a full freak out and like threw his popcorn everywhere. And like I found out about this because he told my mom. And he ran up the aisle and went to the bathroom he was like throwing up, freaking out.

Calls my mom. He's like, is Seann OK? Is Seann OK? My mom's like, yeah, he's fine. He's like he just got his head cut off. And my mom was like, it's a movie. And my mom told me, this I'm like what a weirdo.

And I intentionally didn't get back to him for a long time just to mess with him. And finally, I talked to him. I'm like, dude, it's just a movie. What are you talking about? What is this?

ETHAN ALTER: Yeah. I feel like you should have mailed him your plaster head in a box and just like he opened it up. There you are.

SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT: If I had it, I would have for sure. Just-- yeah.

ETHAN ALTER: What's in the box?

SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT: Right. Exactly.