Taylor Swift Directs Movies Now?
As if she weren’t well-rounded enough already after releasing hit albums in multiple wildly different musical genres, Taylor Swift is shocking the world again by becoming a movie director. According to Variety, the singer/songwriter will now be adding “director” to her resume as she signs a deal with Searchlight Pictures.
Aside from directing the film (the plot of which is a closely kept secret for the moment), Taylor Swift will also be writing it. In a statement made by Searchlight presidents Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum, “Taylor is a once-in-a-generation artist and storyteller.” They go on to say that the team at the studio feels very lucky to be a part of this new chapter in her “creative journey.”
As true Swifties will tell you, though, this is not actually Taylor Swift’s first time in the director’s chair. The singer also both wrote and directed All Too Well: The Short Film, a music video for the 14-minute version of her famous breakup song that may or may not be about Jake Gyllenhaal.
That short film was screened at both the Toronto International Film Festival and the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival to much acclaim. Taylor Swift has also won two awards for best direction at the MTV VMAs: one for All Too Well: The Short Film and another for the music video for “The Man.”
The one area where Taylor Swift seems to have a bit of bad luck in the movie biz is as an actress. Two of the three movies she has acted in have been terrible flops. While Valentine’s Day did alright at the box office, the recently released Amsterdam was a bomb… and don’t even get us started on the hilariously epic failure that is Cats.
To be fair, however, Taylor Swift’s roles in all those films were small ones, and she can certainly not be the one blamed for their bad reception. Perhaps her real talent lies behind the camera, as a writer and director, where she has already excelled before.
This new career move and all the extra work that comes with it should be no problem for Taylor Swift, as she has already had so much experience with taking on new roles. Since the beginning of her career in 2006, she has released music in genres ranging from country to pop to indie folk to alternative rock with hints of R&B – and she has 11 Grammy awards to show for it.
Oh, and just last month Taylor Swift crashed the Ticketmaster website when she announced her upcoming Eras concert tour.
So, will the only three-time female album of the year winner be able to see this kind of result from her new directing venture? Only time will tell. In the meantime, fans can listen to Taylor Swift’s latest album, Midnights, or watch that 14-minute-long music video for “All Too Well” a few hundred (thousand) times while they wait.
Fans of Searchlight Films, on the other hand, can enjoy their latest projects, like Mark Mylod’s darkly humorous horror film, The Menu, and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin. The latter is predicted to make some big waves at the Oscars. We are not sure if Taylor Swift’s directorial debut will be Oscar-worthy, but we can hope for that.
