Calgary babies star alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson in Die My Love

Calgary twin babies Victoria and Kennedy Calderwood starred alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in Alberta-filmed movie Die My Love, offering the little ones a taste of stardom and the whole family a peek at how movies are made.

The fraternal twins take turns playing a baby boy in the film and their father, James, said it was surprising they got the role because they aren’t identical.

“I guess they looked enough alike and they passed as boys,” he said. Though, they did have to cut Kennedy’s hair to match Victoria, who had no hair at the time of filming.

James said the casting call was for twins, but didn’t specify gender.

As for the twins landing the role, “it all happened really fast,” said James Calderwood.

One of the moms at the twins’ brother’s daycare mentioned the casting call to James, who passed along the information to his wife, Kathryn Calderwood.

“It’s kind of a weird story,” said Kathryn, who knew an agent, Wendy, through soccer. She said she “didn’t think anything of it,” until the daycare mom sent Kathryn a social media post about the casting call. Kathryn asked Wendy about it, and was encouraged to bring the twins to audition, asking for photos of the girls and saying she’d get things organized.

The Calderwoods sent Wendy photos, and said they didn’t hear anything for a while before eventually receiving a call about an audition.

The audition process was meant to last 10 minutes. As the casting directors observed how the babies interacted with each other and with strangers, the twins’ audition surpassed the 10-minute time slot, lasting 35 minutes.

The parents were nervous as babies can be “temperamental,” said James, but he said “the girls were perfect.

“If they had one meltdown, the career was over.”

The audition also included some videotaping to see how the babies reacted to a camera’s presence.

Kathryn said the film’s director, Lynne Ramsay, joined the audition and interacted with the babies. Kathryn remembered Ramsay commenting that she made a connection with one of the twins.

The Calderwoods recalled about six sets of twins in various stages of temperament at the audition. This audition was a first for the babies, and their parents.

Filming experience called ‘surreal’

About a week before filming, the Calderwoods went to the set to participate in a camera test, to meet the other actors and observe interactions.

One of the twins was asleep for this and Kathryn said Jennifer Lawrence was holding her, while the other twin, wide awake, was being held by Robert Pattinson and the two were playing together — all the while chatting with James and Kathryn.

“It was very eye opening,” said Kathryn on the entire experience. Neither James nor Kathryn has any film or television experience, so they went into this not knowing what to expect. They were able to share the experience with friends and family, as each baby required a chaperone during filming and both parents couldn’t always make it to set.

The Calderwood’s other child, a son, was on set a few times during filming and ended up making it in one scene of the movie. Kathryn said, after he saw his part, he kept asking to replay it.

The twins filmed for approximately 30 days, and Kennedy’s hair had to be cut one more time about halfway through filming.

“It was surreal,” said Kathryn on the experience.

Stars wonderful to work with, say Calderwoods

James and Kathryn raved about the treatment their family received on set from Lawrence and Pattinson, and the entire cast and crew.

“Everyone treated the girls like royalty,” said James.

Lawrence spent a lot of extra time with the girls off-camera bonding with them, with James recalling she was always stopping by to see the twins.

Kathryn said there were a few times where they were told to remain on set and not go back to the tent or trailer, and as each girl needed a chaperone, this gave the parents no breaks to eat or use the washroom. During some of those times, Lawrence acted as a chaperone to allow James or Kathryn an opportunity to step away briefly.

“She would sit there with the girls and hold them and play,” recalled Kathryn, saying the girls would often fall asleep with Lawrence. “She’d just walk around with them.”

Pattinson was present with the twins as well, with Kathryn saying he’d lie down to play with them and hold them.

“He was a new dad at that point; he knew what he was doing,” said Kathryn.

Future in acting for the whole family?

Their roles in this film started a minor acting career for the babies, though the Calderwoods aren’t sure it will continue as they grow older. The twins became full Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists members, which has opened other film and television opportunities for them.

The memberships were kept active, and as a result the twins were cast in a commercial for the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament. Additionally, Kennedy played a background role in filming for the movie Reminders of Him set to release in 2026. Their son was also called for a background role in that film.

James and Kathryn intend to keep their ACTRA memberships active, picking up roles “here or there” acknowledging that the twins are too little to make their own decisions currently, but will be able to decide for themselves once they’re ready. Kathryn said they’ve asked their son about a few opportunities and he’s said no and they respect his decision.

“Now that he saw that movie piece, he might change his mind,” said Kathryn.