Courtesy of Sundance Institute/Greg Cotten
Nineties kids are kind of obsessed with twins.
“I grew up in a generation that idolized twins,” Sweeney tells EW.
“It was very much in my zeitgeist.
Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney in ‘Twinless’.Credit:Courtesy of Sundance Institute/Greg Cotten
It was a manifestation of the perfect best friend, somebody you could share everything with.
As a military brat hopping around, that was something I really craved.
“That was definitely my fantasy,” Sweeney says of the 1995 film.
Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney in ‘Twinless’.Republic Pictures
“It’s like, ‘Oh, one day I’ll just magically run into my identical twin.’
Even though they’re actually not twins, they’re just lookalikes.
But that visceral moment of ‘You look just like me’ is imprinted in my formative memories.”
Republic Pictures
“They bond and complement each other.”
Though, out of respect for all involved, he didn’t attend one of their meetings.
“I thought it would be too much to attend,” he explains.
Lauren Graham in ‘Twinless’.Republic Pictures
Even without that book (he tried!
But there’s a lot of studies done on twins because they see them as the perfect specimen.”
Explorating what it means to be (and lose) a twin first attracted O’Brien to the project.
Sweeney wrote the first draft in 2015, and O’Brien has been attached since 2020.
That deeply resonated with me, even though I don’t have a twin.
I found it to be a really compelling and heart-wrenching center to this story.
This tragically poignant tale of this kid losing his other half."
“It was a gut thing for me,” O’Brien reflects.
“I remember falling in love with Roman immediately.
I read a character, and either I have that soul in me or not.
Roman’s somebody I know really deep down.”
“He basically said, ‘I see you.
I see your voice.
I understand this character and his every emotion.’
That gave me a lot of confidence.”
“I authentically connected to it all.
It was one of those wonderful creative experiences.”
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Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
Still, Sweeney says anything from here on is a cherry on top of his twin sundae.
“I know that’s a rare gift.
I’m super excited for people to see the film and to find its audience.
But as far as I’m concerned, I’m already content.”
