“I'm very picky,” insists Dylan O'Brien, looking back on a burst of productivity over the past 12 months that has included movies like “My Little Pony,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Caddo Lake” and the Max Comedy Collection. “Fantasmas” and James Sweeney's “Twinless” screened at Sundance. “I would be bothered by the kind of offers that are out there in the market…but I believe that if I were a 'foolproof' person, I could have a lot of different careers.”
He began his career as a heartthrob in MTV's Teen Wolf and the Maze Runner movies more than a decade ago, and has won acting awards for his versatility in every new project since; no Both characters are identical. But according to O'Brien, his latest slate shows not just 12 months of work, but more than five months — a gap that also includes episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Two Different” 's visitor (as “himself”), 4 additional options, and the short film “All Too Nicely” directed by Taylor Swift.
In 2019, after learning Twinless, his mission really began. In this film, Sweeney won chooseIn Administrators to Watch 2025, he plays twin brothers Roman and Rocky, who team up with a rescue team member after the latter's unexpected death. (played by Sweeney) develops a deep bond. Even when dealing with twins — one straight, one gay — the actor said Sweeney's writing gave him exactly the type of experience that informed him about the cost of getting involved in a cause.
“When I learn something, it's like I can hear that person's voice, or I can't,” O'Brien said. “From the moment I picked up the script, I was like, 'Rome is in my heart.'” I did know the man. Later, when I came into contact with Loki, I also had an intuition about him. “
He remembers that it was his transformation into an introspective Roman who, like O'Brien, was straight that almost shocked Sweeney. “When he pointed that out, I immediately felt uncomfortable with my Roman voice,” he said. “But that’s how I dealt with the burden of the very sheltered life he had led before that, and then he went through tragedy — and that’s what the f*ck turned out to be. [James] Like, 'I love it. '”
Meanwhile, in order to play Rocky authentically but never as a stereotype, O'Brien said the pair adopted a “gay scale” on set, with Sweeney (who is gay) dialing it up or down. “He would often say, 'You're too outspoken about this,'” he recalled amusingly. “I'm very pleased with this permission… One of the signs of a good filmmaker is to always provide permission to get on or off the road.”
The credibility of each performance – like the others that came before it – is a testament to the centrality that O’Brien attributes to his growing understanding of the power of nurturing artistic environments. “I’m talking about your filmmakers, the work itself and the boldness you feel in it,” he said. “A useful device to have or try to develop is to be able to determine if your fingers are protected.”
Although he admitted that appearing in the music video was a “place where I actually felt uncomfortable,” O'Brien said that two of the protected fingers belonged to Taylor Swift, who in 2021 He was invited to play the leading role in “All Too Nicely”. “This was her first time directing, and Taylor definitely had the right instinct to say, 'I'm hiring these actors because I'm a fan of the work they've done, and I'm going to allow them to try this job,'” he said. “I love the message she's trying to convey. I totally feel like I understand where I stand in it, and that's exciting to me.”
The actor said he finally “has the ability to act in another way,” said his future plans include a reunion with Sweeney (“James and I will definitely work together again on something”), and that he Hoping to reach a distribution deal, “Ponyboi” will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. “I'm lucky enough to be in a place where I can choose these assignments that really interest me and impress me – and I'm already there,” he said.
“The decisions I've made over the past 12 months have shaped what I want to do,” O'Brien added. “That's not to say that I didn't identify myself with a Teen Wolf or a Maze Runner movie. Those were my cornerstones. But it doesn't tell the whole story of me as an artistic individual.”
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