Casper star Devon Sawa opened up about his complicated relationship with his iconic character from the film. The actor revealed that he once wanted to distance himself from the role, as one memorable line has followed him for decades.
Devon Sawa explains how the 1995 film and its ‘Can I keep you?’ line followed him for decades
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Devon Sawa opened up about his iconic role as Casper and how one line from the film has remained associated with him for years.
His role in the 1995 family fantasy Casper became iconic. Sawa‘s line, “Can I keep you?” became a memorable ’90s pop culture moment.
However, the actor struggled with the attention surrounding the role, as interviews and public interactions often came back to the iconic line.
He said, “Doesn’t matter what I do nowadays. It doesn’t matter how cool the project is; I will always have to say, ‘Can I keep you?’ to somebody at some point. There will always be Casper stuff.”
The actor struggled to make “peace” with the fact that Casper would always be part of his life. He also acknowledged a time when he wanted to distance himself from the character.
He said, “There was a time in my life I was like, ‘I don’t wanna talk about Casper. How dare you? I’m a thespian,’ you know? But… I gotta embrace it. It’s why I’m here. It’s what got me here.”
Sawa is now stepping into another supernatural role in the Disney series Coven Academy. He plays warlock professor Mr. Cole.
Devon Sawa appeared in Casper alongside Christina Ricci. The movie follows Ricci’s character, Kat Harvey, as she moves into a haunted mansion with her father. She befriends the ghost Casper, while Sawa appears as Casper’s human form in the final sequence.
The movie became a worldwide success, earning $291 million. It celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025 with a theatrical re-release.
Devon Sawa’s new series Coven Academy, which also stars Tiffani Thiessen, Malina Pauli Weissman, Jordan Leftwich, Malachi Barton, Ora Duplass, and Louis Thresher, premiered on October 1.
