Taylor Swift is set to make her feature film directorial debut. The pop superstar, who debuted with her self-titled country album in 2006 at the age of 16, has been periodically directing her own music videos since 2008’s “I’m Only Me When I’m with You.” However, her 15-minute “All Too Well: The Short Film,” which stars Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien in an updated version of an older track of hers, bridged the gap between music video and short film, winning 3 MTV Video Music Awards and sparking buzz about the fact that it is eligible for a short film Oscar in the 2023 awards season.
Per THR, Searchlight Pictures has partnered with Swift to develop a feature film following the success of the “All Too Well” music video. Swift has already penned the screenplay for the project, which she will be directing. So far, no details have been revealed about the content of the film, whether it will involve her music in any way, or whether the star intends to appear onscreen.
Taylor Swift’s History in Hollywood
Swift’s experience in the Hollywood arena extends far beyond her directorial efforts (which also include two of her most recent music videos, “Bejeweled” and “Anti-Hero” off her hit album Midnights). She made her acting debut in a 2009 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing a young goth woman who is bullied online and eventually murdered. She followed that role up with an appearance in the star-studded rom-com Valentine’s Day in 2010, part of a bit of stunt casting that saw her character in a relationship with Twilight heartthrob Taylor Lautner, who she would later date in real life for several months.
Her acting endeavors were thin on the ground for the next couple of years, with only scattered appearances in projects like the Dr. Seuss animated feature The Lorax in 2012, the sitcom New Girl in 2013, and the young adult adaptation The Giver in 2014. She then took a break for about half a decade, only appearing onscreen in her own music videos and live performances. However, she has returned to the screen in a more concentrated manner recently, playing the CGI cat Bombalurina in the 2019 Broadway adaptation Cats (for which she provided an original song, co-written with Andrew Lloyd Webber) and making a brief but memorable appearance in David O. Russell’s Amsterdam, which premiered earlier this year and stars Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, and John David Washington.
Although Swift is still at the beginning of her career when it comes to Hollywood, her experience in front of and behind the camera in the music scene extends over a decade. She has proven herself to have the ability to handle a short film, so the success of this next step will likely determine if she is going to have a future behind the camera with larger projects. Hopefully, more details about the finished screenplay will be revealed soon, so fans will get a sense of what to expect. While it seems most likely that the “All Too Well” auteur would direct a project based around music, only time will tell what she has up her sleeve.
Source: THR