Taylor Swift Is Ready to Direct a Feature Film: ‘If It Were the Right Thing, It Would be Such a Privilege’
Platinum-selling recording artist Taylor Swift recently hinted that she’s ready to break into a new side of the entertainment industry: directing.
The 32-year-old Grammy winner made her directorial debut with All Too Well: The Short Film, which premiered last year as a visual accompaniment to the extended version of her song “All Too Well.” It’s since amassed over 76 million views on YouTube and even won Best Longform Video at the 2022 Video Music Awards.
Following the success of All Too Well: The Short Film, Swift expressed interest in directing a full feature film in the future — but only if the “right opportunity” comes along.
What is ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’ about? Cast, story details, and audience reception
All Too Well: The Short Film stars Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Brien as Her and Him. It tells the story of an ill-fated romance compounded by an age gap. It’s rumored to be based on Swift’s short-lived relationship with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, who was allegedly the subject of her 2012 studio album, Red.
Much to the delight of fans, Swift announced she directed a short film to release simultaneously with the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021, which included a 10-minute uncut version of her fan-favorite song, “All Too Well.” The project is part of the Love Story singer’s ongoing efforts to re-release “Taylor’s Versions” of her first five albums, so she owns the complete rights to her masters.
The film debuted in New York City and had a limited theatrical run in other major US cities before it arrived on YouTube that same day. All Too Well: The Short Film was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews from both Swifties and critics. The video currently stands at an 8.4-star rating on IMBd (out of 10 stars) and a 4.3-star rating on Letterboxd (out of five stars).
Swift wrote, directed, and briefly appeared in the project, making it an impressive feat for the singer-songwriter-gone-director.
Taylor Swift on directing a feature film: ‘I would absolutely love for the right opportunity to arise’
During an interview at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, Swift teased what might be the next not-so-baby step in her film career: directing a feature-length movie. Audiences got to see the first ever 35mm screening of All Too Well: The Short Film.
In the discussion, moderated by TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, Swift received a question about pursuing directing in the future. She said yes — if she could find the right material.
“I’d love to keep taking baby steps forward,” she said, according to Variety. “And I think that I’m at a place now where the next baby step is not a baby step. It would be committing to making a film. And I I feel like I would just absolutely love for the right opportunity to arise because I just absolutely, absolutely adore telling stories this way.”
When asked which genres she’d like to explore as a director, Swift cited romantic dramas like Marriage Story and 1973’s The Way We Were. “If it was the right thing, it would be such a privilege and an honor,” she added.
“I think I will always want to tell human stories about human emotion. I never say never, but I can’t imagine myself filming an action sequence. If it happens one day, honestly, that’ll be funny character growth, but at this point, I could see it going in a more comedic, irreverent place,” she said, poking fun at her own tendency to write somber songs about despair and heartbreak.
She continued: “I don’t always see myself telling stories about extreme, guttural heartbreak at your most formative age that debilitates you emotionally for years and then you have to develop the scar tissue in order to move on with your life, and limp your way to your typewriter and write a novel about it. I think I’ve done that.”
Why ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’ took Taylor Swift 10 years to visualize
For Swift, All Too Well: The Short Film was a passion project nearly 10 years in the making. She explained that even performing the original five-minute version of “All Too Well” was difficult for her, as the lyrics hit a little too close to home.
“For me, the song was so tough because it was about something that at that point was very current for me,” she said during her TIFF interview. “I would have a really hard time performing it at the time. I had to really like force myself to focus on other things to try to get through it during tour. So there would be no world in which I could have made a visual element to that song at that time.”
But despite the hardships she faced while performing the song live, she eventually came around to the idea of adding a visual element to the song. “I needed 10 years of retrospect in order to know what I would even make to to tell a version of that story visually,” she continued. “And I’m so grateful that I was able to do that with some crazy stroke of all these different twists of fate.”
