
James Sweeney’s Twinless poses the question: What happens when you lose the person who made you whole?
The film, now screening at Sundance, follows Dennis (Sweeney) and Roman (Dylan O’Brien), two young men who meet in a twin-bereavement support group and form a complex friendship while searching for solace. The film also stars Gilmore Girls veteran Lauren Graham.
We talked with Sweeney about his best friend and cinematographer Greg Cotten, Brian De Palma’s influence on Twinless, and lying.
Joshua Encinias: Does Lauren Graham know you referenced Gilmore Girls in your first movie Straight Up?
James Sweeney: I’ve mentioned it. I don’t know if she’s seen the film, which may be for the best. [Laughs.]
Joshua Encinias: Dylan is an executive producer of Twinless. What was his role?
James Sweeney: Executive producer can be an amorphous title, but Dylan’s been attached to this since 2020. I let him in as much as he wanted to be involved. He was really looking out for me on set, gave notes during post-production — he’s never watched a movie he’s in this much — and even helped us secure a HAIM song, “Leaning on You,” for the soundtrack. Whenever we could lean on him we did.
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Joshua Encinias: Tell me about your long working relationship with Greg Cotten, who also shot your films Straight Up and Brooklyn Love Stories.
James Sweeney: Greg is my best friend — we met in freshman year of film school, and he’s shot everything I’ve ever done. It’s sometimes hard to imagine shooting without him because we’ve developed a shorthand over the years, and there’s a lot of innate trust between us. He knows the way I like to shoot. One thing about Greg is how adaptable he is, and he’s great with crew and talent, which is invaluable in a cinematographer.
Joshua Encinias: You film a kiss between Dylan’s character and his love interest in a spit diopter, and it’s not the only old-school cinematic technique you use in the movie. Why are you drawn to older methods?
James Sweeney: Brian De Palma was an influence on our visual style. We also used a split diopter in my first film Straight Up. I think it lends itself to the visual grammar of this film as we’re dealing with duality and balance in both composition and narrative.
James Sweeney on Images and Duality in Twinless

Joshua Encinias: Why did you shoot parts of Twinless on 35mm film?
James Sweeney: We shot on 35mm and digitally. When we switch perspectives, the image switches from 35mm to digital as the story deals with authenticity versus artifice. But I want to leave it to the audience to decide if the shift in visuals is decipherable or not.
Joshua Encinias: There’s a scene where your character Dennis records his voicemail while the camera zooms out and repeatedly lands on a surprising image.
James Sweeney: That was a tricky shot because we didn’t have a VFX supervisor, which in retrospect we should have, but we were trying to save money. Spatially what we did wasn’t physically possible, so we had to come up with some visual compromises for the composite. Still, we achieved the intended effect of using mirror images as a visual montage.
Joshua Encinias: Lying is central to the movie and there are some very big lies told.
James Sweeney: An audience member actually came up to me [after a Sundance screening] and related to the experience of how we use lying in the movie. I hope that’s why people empathize with him because people aren’t good or evil in a binary way.
Joshua Encinias: The idea that forgiveness is not earned or deserved is another idea the movie explores.
James Sweeney: I think forgiveness is something so uniquely human. It’s one of the most complex but also profound acts that we can give to each other, but also to ourselves. It’s something I deeply believe.
You never want a line that goes, “And that’s the theme of the movie!” I’m not a filmmaker who’s trying to proselytize, but it touches on something I believe.
I think the reason Roman and Dennis are drawn to each other as friends is that they both have low self-esteem. They build each other up and I think they both try to bring out the best in each other. That’s why their friendship is so beautiful before conflict comes in.
Joshua Encinias: What was the most difficult part of making Twinless?
James Sweeney: Producing and directing can very much be at war with each other. As a director, you just want to achieve your vision, but a producer deals with the constraints of the budget.
Coming from directing my first film Straight Up, I didn’t know I could ask for things that would make the process better. As a producer, Dylan helped advocate for taking time for the things necessary to help make the best version of the movie.
Joshua Encinias: Are you comfortable watching your movies with an audience?
James Sweeney: I don’t love watching myself, I don’t think anyone does. I did watch it at our premiere at the Eccles Theatre. It was interesting to watch it through their eyes, but even that was uncomfortable because there are some very vulnerable scenes.
Joshua Encinias: I read there were audio glitches during the premiere screening. How did that go over?
James Sweeney: You never know how long glitches will last but it only happened for a second each time. It was nice to see how engaged the audience was — and to see their visceral reaction of disappointment — it showed me how tuned in they were to the story. If anything, it was nice.
Twinless is now screening at Sundance.
Main image: Dylan O’Brien, left, and James Sweeney in Twinless. Courtesy of Sundance.