EDGE Rewind: Check Out Dylan O'Brien Streetwise Look for 'Ponyboi'

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Dylan O' Brien gets gritty for his new film. IndieWire writes that the 31-year-old actor, best known for "Teen Wolf" on television and "The Maze Runner" movies, stars in the title role of "Ponyboi" a feature-length film based on the 2019 award-winning short film of the same name from writer-director River Gallo. That film premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.

For this version, Gallo co-directed the short alongside Sade Clacken Joseph, with Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, and Seven Graham executive producing. The film is the first-ever to star an openly intersex performer in an intersex role and wowed actors Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry, who joined the project as co-producer and executive producer, respectively wrote MTV News in a 2019 profile on Gallo.

About 130 million people are intersex, roughly the same number of people who are naturally red-headed. Intersex is an umbrella term that describes a person born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male according to the Intersex Society of North America.

The film's official synopsis reads: Ponyboi is an intersex runaway. He works at a laundromat and hustles as a sex worker. But after a mysterious encounter with a man from his dreams, he learns that perhaps he is worthy of leaving his seedy life in New Jersey behind.

IndieWire writes the first-look photos show O'Brien covered in blood, with Pedretti sporting a fake pregnant belly. The duo previously worked together on 2020 anthology series "Amazing Stories."

In an interview with Subvert Magazine, said that making the first version was "like being pregnant and I've just given birth! Everyone adores my baby! Haha."

They described the film's genesis. "It began with my passionate yet complicated relationship with my home state New Jersey. New Jersey has always been my biggest muse, in that much of my trauma growing up intersex is rooted there. Most of life I dreamed of running away from New Jersey and all the painful memories I experienced there. As I got older and discovered my intersex identity, I began to appreciate and be grateful for what those experiences taught me."

IndieWire adds that "O'Brien recently appeared in 'Not Okay'; opposite Zoey Deutch. The actor is in post-production on upcoming thriller "Caddo"; and political satire "Maximum Truth," co-written by Ike Barinholtz and "The Mindy Project" director David Staten.

BuzzFeed describes him as "'Teen Wolf" alumnus and "Maze Runner" star, and resident internet boyfriend." Adding, "From new films to adorable interviews, 2022 was a big year for Dylan!" The fanning piece continues to name 21 reasons why the year was big for him. And with 6.2 million followers on Twitter and 1.8 million on Instagram, it easy to understand why.

After his family moved from New Jersey to California when he was 12, O'Brien found solace in his middle school loneliness by making comedy YouTube videos, writes Bustle in an interview with the actor. In 2010, he landed the role of Stiles Stilinski on MTV's series "Teen Wolf." Overnight fame followed "All of a sudden girls were coming up to me in places, wanting to take pictures," he says. "It was very scary."

After "Teen Wolf" came "The Maze Runner" trilogy, for which he won 3 MTV Movie Awards. His success brought "very specific kind of fame Internet boyfriend," adds Bustle.

When asked about this adoration, his demeanor shifts, Bustle continues. "It's so funny, my palms are sweating. It's overwhelming [and] it's wonderful," O'Brien says, tearing up. "It's just gnarly to think about little me having this really special thing happen."

He appeared in two films this past year with striking different looks. First, "The Outfit," the 1950s gangster thriller released to good reviews last February; and "Not Okay," a satire on online celebrity starring Zoey Deutch. In the former, he wore slick 1950s hood couture, for the latter street wear, tattoos, and bleached hair.

Though "Not Okay" is largely satire, Glamour wrote in an interview with the actor, O'Brien says Colin couldn't be more real. "Look at Machine Gun Kelly, O'Brien says with a laugh. It's just hilarious."