‘Twinless’ star sends message to ‘pervs’ who watched leaked gay sex scene

Twinless star and filmmaker James Sweeney has a message for all the people who watched leaks of his new film’s sex scenes.

Twinless, written and directed by Sweeney (Straight Up), also stars Sweeney alongside Dylan O’Brien as two young men who meet in a twin bereavement group. They form an unconventional bond and soon grow closer and closer, all while secrets, lies, and desire threaten to destroy it all.

When the film debuted at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, a gay sex scene between Sweeney and costar Dylan O’Brien was recorded and leaked to the public. Sundance then pulled the film from its streaming site due to piracy.

Now that the film is coming out in theaters, Sweeney has spoken up about the leaks and all the people who watched them.

“You want the film to have traction and to register in the zeitgeist,” he tells Deadline. “Obviously, that’s not the way I want to be introduced as somebody who is not going to be familiar to most people.”

“Over the festival circuit, I would run into some people who’d be like, ‘Oh my God, Twinless, I saw your trailer.’ I’m like, ‘The trailer is not done. I know what you saw, that wasn’t the trailer,'” he continues. “So, you know, I’m trying to keep a good sense of humor about it. All I can say is those pervs better show up and pay money to see it in theaters.”

Sweeney first addressed the leaks when he accepted the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Films for his film at the festival.

“I woke up this morning with an email thread about people posting spoilers with photos. If anyone’s seen the film, you know what I’m talking about. So I guess the audience really does like the film,” he said.

Twinless got rave reviews out of Sundance and currently sits at 98 percent Fresh from 83 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s now out in theaters. Watch the trailer below.

This article originally appeared on Out: ‘Twinless’ star sends message to ‘pervs’ who watched leaked gay sex scene

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