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ALONG WITH HOLLYWOOD’S
HOT TEST, SYDNEY SWEENEY HAS
BEEN TAPPED FOR A ROLE IN
TARANTINO’S NEW FILM, ONCE
UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.
SHE TALKS TO ALEXANDRA ENGLISH
ABOUT KEEPING SECRETS,
A-LISTERS WHO FEEL LIKE FAMILY
AND BEING ON A FIRST-NAME
STREAMING BASIS WITH BRAD
SYDNEY SWEENEY’S EXCITEMENT IS
PALPABLE. Her voice is punctuated with
exclamation marks and, at times, it’s like she’s
talking in ALL CAPS. It’s infectious, and her
sense of awe about her life is understandable
(if not relatable). Just nine years ago she was a
12-year-old trying to convince her parents to let
her audition for the indie flick that was filming in
her small Washington State town. Now, on the
eve of turning 21, she’s on a first-name basis
with Brad, Leo and Margot.
“It’s been a really crazy journey,” she says
down the line from Los Angeles, emphasis on
the “really”. Filming for Quentin Tarantino’s
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood has
wrapped; her moody narrative feature
Clementine will premiere at New York’s
Tribeca Film Festival a couple of days after we
speak; earlier this year she starred in Big Time
Adolescence with Pete Davidson; and she’s
already onto her next project, HBO’s series
Euphoria, with Zendaya. Last year, there was
The Handmaid’s Tale – she played Eden,
the pious child-bride of the Commander’s
Guardian, Nick – and Sharp Objects, where
she played Alice, a troubled teen in a mental
health facility. There was also her breakout as
Emaline (a drama club student) in the Netflix
series Everything Sucks! Scrolling through her
IMDb profile, every show is familiar, though
Sweeney might not have been when they
aired: 90210 , Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal
Minds, The Bling Ring, Pretty Little Liars.
But back to the Tarantino flick. There’s not
much Sweeney can divulge about her role in
the 1969-set film that’s rumoured to be the
director’s penultimate project (he’s been
saying for years that he will stop after 10 films).
Everyone you’ve ever heard of in your whole
entire life is in it: Leonardo DiCaprio plays Rick
Dalton, an ageing TV Western star who livesAND
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Photography: Mark Williams and Sara Hirakawa