Oscar-nominatedSing Singfilmmaking duoGreg KwedarandClint Bentleyhave been a partnership for as long as theyve been making features.
Kwedar and Bentley regularly trade roles with each other, too.
ForTranspecos, Kwedar directed, then on their second feature,Jockey, Bentley took the helm.
Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley at the 2025 Critics Choice AwardsMichael Kovac/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association
What was the spark that brought you together in the beginning?
And we met both right after college.
My parents had moved to Texas when I was in college and I was visiting them.
Colman Domingo as John “Divine G” Whitfield andClarence Maclinas Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin in ‘Sing Sing’A24/Courtesy Everett Collection
He had a big passion around the US-Mexican border.
And we hit it off fairly quickly.
Greg had an idea for a film calledTranspecosthat he wanted to write.
He had a short film script and wanted to turn it into a feature.
And we started collaborating on that.
And then I ended up marrying that young woman who introduced us.
So, it all worked out, really.
DEADLINE: I love how the story ends!
Greg, maybe you’re able to answer this one?
KWEDAR:Clint got the easy one.
BENTLEY:Yeah, exactly.
Greg gets the philosophical one, but youre better at those anyways.
KWEDAR:I think our relationship is sort of foundational to how we began as filmmakers.
We were after some deeper understanding of a place and of people there.
And so, our process was forged together.
And making that first film took over six years, to the point where we actually shot it.
And when one of us directs the other works in support often as a producer.
And I think what that allows for is both a shared artistic journey thats deeply meaningful because its shared.
Being a filmmaker is often a very lonely enterprise, that youre lonely in two ways.
Weve seen the fruit of that, and the work that it takes to nurture that.
And then that leads it into our projects, our sets, and the types of stories we tell.
When did you see the story as a film?
KWEDAR:Thank you for what youre saying about finding connection and the importance of that in male relationships.
Tenderness was a key word throughout makingSing Singthat Colman [Domingo] helped us identify.
But connection is actually kind of a cornerstone of Clints and my work.
It was kind of an instinct then, and its more of a committed practice now.
It just has grown more urgent and vital to us the longer weve worked.
And its something we always talk about, whenever were setting out on something.
DEADLINE: First you met the real guys behind theSing Singstory.
What did you learn from that first meeting with the guys?
With all the same actors.
KWEDAR:It took me back to that feeling honestly, of first being exposed to the story.
It is something that belongs, thats yours, and that no one can take from you.
I dont know what you thought, Clint?
We met Dino that weekend, we met Dap.
A lot of the guys who ended up being in the film, we met that weekend.
lets find a plot, lets find this.
I know I speak for both of us here, that our lives were changed after that weekend.
What do we do with that?
BENTLEY:We were told it was not sellable.
We were told this was not a good film to make or from a business sense.
KWEDAR:Or if you wanted to make it needed to conform to the stereotypes.
And maybe we did flirt with that, honestly.
So, our own industry has built this perception that we have about people inside.
I know that casting Coleman Domingo as Divine G was a dream come true.
What was a peak experience for you both in the whole process?
It was a hard film to make.
We were shooting it very quickly.
But it was never hard emotionally, or it was never taxing.
And a lot of that was because of just the joy that those guys were having together.
I just remember that overwhelming joy.
It was so life-giving that it was all worth it.
So, they were prepared for that.
But the questions would range from, why do you love acting?
To, what roles have you played in other productions actions?
Tell us a childhood story?
What are you afraid of?
But he tells the story of riding his bike and skidding behind the courthouse.
And he looked out the windows and there were kids doing wheelies on their bikes.
Basically, we have the ability to be our best and we have the ability to be our worst.
And its something I think about to this day.
And then after a little while, Brent comes up beside him and just puts an arm around him.
And then Mosi Eagle came up beside with him, put an arm around him.
They just stood there by the window.
And then he came back, and he fought an imaginary gladiator.
And thats whats in the movie.
DEADLINE: Tell me about the decision to move forward with Ethos, your equal pay and equity initiative.
You started it a while ago and it worked so well withSing Sing.
Again, its not rocket science that it works.
That RTA has a recidivism rate of less than 3% against 60% nationwide.
These are not groundbreaking ideas, its just whats groundbreaking about it is actually following through and doing it.
Once you do that, theres this mindset shift.
And just this idea that youre going to take better care of something that belongs to you.
And to be able to write those checks, nothing feels better than that.
