Dylan O’Brien discusses the support he got from ‘Twinless’ director James Sweeney to play a gay character. He says Sweeney’s “permission” helped him bring authenticity to the role, avoiding the pitfalls of straight actors playing queer parts.
O’Brien and Sweeney on Authentic Portrayal
Actor Dylan O’Brien has spoken about the support he received while portraying a gay character in the film ‘Twinless’, saying that being given “permission” by writer-director and co-star James Sweeney helped bring authenticity to the role, according to Deadline. O’Brien plays twin brothers Roman and Rocky in the film, with Rocky identifying as gay. The actor praised Sweeney for encouraging him to fully embrace the character despite being heterosexual himself.
“In terms of him playing queer – I’ll take credit for giving him permission and pushing him in a direction to be fluid with the masculinity and femininity,” Sweeney said. “A lot of times when straight actors play gay, they don’t lean into that out of fear of being vilified by the public, and are like, ‘We’re all the same, so I’m just going to play myself.’ I don’t mean that as a denigration to other straight actors, but I felt for Rocky to be attracted to Dennis, he would need to be comfortable with both masculinity and femininity, in my experience of dating,” as quoted by Deadline.
O’Brien echoed those sentiments, emphasizing the importance of trust and guidance while approaching the role. “Permission goes a long way,” O’Brien said. “James is a gay man, and coming from a place I could trust. We had a similar take on straight actors playing gay parts, especially in recent years: you started seeing straight actors playing a queer role completely straight. It started to feel inauthentic. It was nice to have his insight, support, and calibration. He’d be like, ‘Go crazy on this one. We can dial it back if it doesn’t feel real.'”
About ‘Twinless’
Twinless, now streaming on Hulu, follows Dennis (Sweeney) and Roman (O’Brien), who form a friendship after meeting in a bereavement support group for twins. As they bond over shared loss, hidden truths and emotional complexities begin to strain their relationship.
On Normalizing Queer Characters
Following the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last year, Sweeney spoke to Deadline about portraying queer characters in a grounded and relatable way. “I don’t necessarily approach my work in the sense of I’m trying to make a queer protagonist’s struggles relatable. It’s, I guess, more instinctual than that,” Sweeney said. “I’m happy if it in any way, I guess I find there’s always universality in specificity, and anytime we can normalize queer characters as just going through the same struggles that we all deal with, whether that’s loneliness, whether that’s rejection… I think that just helps build empathy. I think that’s one of the most powerful things of storytelling, is the ability to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes,” as quoted by Deadline. (ANI)
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