Taylor Swift would be down to write and direct her own film
Swift chatted about her All Too Well short film at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival
Taylor Swift sat down to talk about her All Too Well short film at the Tribeca Film Festival, and to the surprise of no one, she came prepared. The pop star pulled out her movie buff bonafides, quoting John Cassavetes (“‘I’ve never seen an exploding helicopter. I’ve never seen anybody go and blow somebody’s head off. So why should I make films about them? But I have seen people destroy themselves in the smallest way.’ Whoa—I felt that.”) and citing Barbara Stanwyck as an inspiration for All Too Well’s final scene, per Rolling Stone.
She also revealed her own cinematic aspirations, which began with directing her first music video for “The Man” in 2020. According to People, she recalled, “I think I had this imposter syndrome in my head saying, ‘No, you don’t do that. Other people do that who went to school to [direct].’”
Now that she has some experience under her belt, though, “It would be so fantastic to write and direct a feature,” she said. Just don’t expect it to be some sort of CGI-fest blockbuster: “I don’t see it being bigger in terms of scale. I loved making a film that was so intimate with a crew that was relatively small. Just a really solid crew of people that I trusted.”
Swift has been involved in films as a musician (like her upcoming single “Carolina” for the Where The Crawdads Sing adaptation) and an actor (most infamously in Cats, but soon in David O. Russell’s next drama). But she acknowledged she had “privilege in even being able to pick up a camera” to direct, considering she fully financed the All Too Well short herself.
“Don’t you feel like it’s an amazing exercise in trusting gut instinct?” She asked her interviewer, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Mills. “There are so many decisions you have to make. Saying ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I’m not sure’ really isn’t an option most of the time.”
“It can be, if said the right way,” Mills said, to which the singer jokingly replied, “Maybe that’s just being a female director.” The title sure looks good on her, though!