In a discussion of “All Too Well: The Short Film” after its screening at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, Taylor Swift revealed that given the right material, she’d be open to directing a feature film.
Toronto saw the first 35mm screening of the film, which is derived from the ten-minute version of Swift’s beloved ballad of the same name. The musician wrote, directed, produced and appeared in the short film alongside the duo starring Dylan O’Brien (“The Outfit,” “Not Okay”) and Sadie Sink (“Stranger Things,” “The Whale”).
When Swift’s film won the MTV VMA for ‘Video of the Year,’ she commented that four of the nominees in her category were women.
“I will always want to tell human stories about human emotions,” he said, according to the hollywood reporter. “It’s really beautiful that we’re in a place where the idea of a female filmmaker doesn’t make you roll your eyes or think as skeptically as it used to,” Swift said.
Swift’s potential as a filmmaker stems in large part from her background in music videos. Over the years, his videos have become more and more layered, revealing Easter eggs in a flashback clock that reference a time in his life, a past musical project, a lyric or symbol, and even most most of the time, a future project in the works.
“I didn’t go to film school. I’ve been on the set of about 60 music videos and I’ve learned a lot from that process,” she said. “But when I did it on my own, I really started to learn everything, because you have to.”
The first music video Swift directed accompanied a song from her 2019 “Lover” album called “The Man.” In the video, Swift herself undergoes prosthetic makeup and transforms into a male version of herself named Tyler. She has also directed the music videos for the singles from her two most recent albums, “folklore”, “Cardigan” and “evermore”, “Willow”.
“It was always part of the process, establishing images,” he added. “The more responsibility I took on, the happier I was.”
According to VarietySwift also explained the decade-long viewing process for her short film “All Too Well.”
“For me, the song was very hard because it was about something that was very current for me at the time,” he said. “I would have a hard time playing it at that time. I really had to force myself to focus on other things to try and get through it on tour. So there would be no, there would be no world where I could have done a visual for that song at that time. It took me ten years of hindsight to know what I would do to tell a version of that story visually. And I’m so thankful that I was able to do that with one crazy hit of all these different twists of fate.”
Speculation and Swifties have pointed to the song and now the movie as resembling parts of her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal before recording her fourth studio album, “Red.” In particular, the scarf has gained a lot of meaning, as it was featured in the “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” music video for a song also believed to be about Gyllenhaal.
“Basically, the scarf is a metaphor,” Swift said. “And we made it red because, because red is a very important color on this album, which is called ‘Red.’ And I think when I say it’s a metaphor, I’m going to stop.”
THRSwift’s conversation coverage reports that the singer left the TIFF screening with a new perspective on her VMA-winning video.
“I’m looking forward to seeing it this time, there was a depth to the color and contrast that I hadn’t seen when I saw it before,” he said. “I am grateful to have shared it with you.”
Swift announced at the 2022 VMAs during her Video of the Year acceptance speech that her new album “Midnights” will be released on October 21. The Toronto Film Festival runs through September 18.
