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In a total left-field direction for Grammy Award winner Taylor Swift, Searchlight Pictures has confirmed that the 33-year-old is set to direct her first feature film based on an original script. Variety was the first to report the news. Now, Taylor Swift is no stranger to film; The singer has been in the music industry for decades at this point, but Swift made her acting debut in the season nine episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, where she played a rebellious teenager named Haley Jones. Since then, Swift has been dancing between the music and film industry, and though she hasn’t exactly been in award-winning hits (I’m looking at you Cats), she has gained the vast knowledge behind-the-scenes to take a step forward in her career as a director.
Swift has also directed some of the music videos, most notably her ten-minute short, All Too Well, which may or may not be about her alleged relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. Other than that juicy gossip, that short film managed to receive high praise, and Swift’s career has only continued to excel even further. Recently, the 11-time Grammy winner released her tenth studio album, Midnights, and she managed to break streaming and sales records with ease. The singer/actor remains one of the hottest stars in Tinseltown today, so it’s no surprise that Searchlight Pictures signed a deal with her to write and direct an original feature:
Credit: Look At What You Made Me Do
“Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller,” Searchlight presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said, according to the industry magazine. “It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey.”
Taylor has also sold over 49 million units when it comes to music. The artist has a rabid fanbase, and just like Harry Styles is popping up in main roles, studios are clearly banking on the fact that fans would be willing to crossover with Swift to check out her debut feature. Swift isn’t the first music artist to step in the director’s chair as Madonna, Rob Zombie, Questlove, Prince, RZA, and Childish Gambino (though Donald Glover was an actor first) are the most infamous names to do so. Writing and Directing is an entirely different beast than a short film, though this doesn’t mean that Swift can’t come out of the gate strong like Olivia Wilde or Sofia Coppola did in their debuts. Swift made it clear that this wasn’t some overnight decision, and she’s had her eye on directing a feature for some time now:
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“It wasn’t like I woke up one day and I was like, You know what I want to do? Direct,” Swift said at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. “I’ve been on the set of 60+ music videos. And I’ve learned a lot from that process.”
Obviously, in due time we shall see if Swift is truly cut out for the filmmaking world, at least behind the scenes. Even if Swift’s first feature film does turn out to be a critical and financial flop, the Grammy winner can always go back to music as she has a clear dominance in that field that doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. As far as the film goes, there’s no word on when it’s scheduled to be released or what the movie even is. However, Swift was recently on directors on directors for Variety, where she talked to Martin McDonagh, and they talked about their respective experiences in directing. It should be an interesting watch since both come from two different worlds, even though Swift is about to slide behind the camera very soon.
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