Eddie Redmayne Says Taylor Swift’s Directing Is ‘An Actor’s Dream’

Taylor Swift is famous for her musical abilities. But during a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the pop star got to talk about some of her other creative endeavors. The singer writes and directs many of her music videos. And actor Eddie Redmayne heaped praise on Swift, calling her “an actor’s dream.”

Taylor Swift’s experience as a director

Swift has been writing and directing her own music videos regularly since the start of her Lover era. The singer has directed music videos for “Me!,” “You Need To Calm Down,” “Lover,” “The Man,” “cardigan,” “willow,” “Anti-Hero,” and “Bejeweled.”

One of her most critically successful videos is the short film for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).” The track was initially much shorter and released on the 2012 Red album. When Swift rerecorded the album, she finally gave fans the 10-minute version of the song she had been teasing to fans for years. 

Eddie Redmayne praises Taylor Swift and her directing style

Swift talked about what it was like to jump in the director’s chair again, as well as how fun it was to work with Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink. Norton asked what kind of director she was when it came to reading the line verbatim versus improvising. 

The singer said she does a little of both, explaining, “[I’ll] say, ‘Okay, let’s do it like it’s scripted,’ but then [say] ‘Let’s do a freedom take where you get to do whatever, however you would interpret this.'”

Redmayne, who was a fellow guest on The Graham Norton Show, was quick to praise Swift’s directorial approach. 

“What you just said there is basically an actor’s dream,” he said. The actor shared that when “a director has faith in you” to play around, it’s a really enjoyable onset experience. Redmayne finished asking Swift to, “please cast me.” 

If Redmayne shows up in one of Swift’s future music videos, the collaboration will be a long time coming. While on the talk show, Swift talked about the pair once screen-tested together for a film. 

The hilarious story about Taylor Swift and Eddie Redmayne’s screen test

Swift was asked to screentest for the role of Eponine in the 2012 movie version of Les Misérables. Redmayne portrayed Marius, the love interest of both Eponine and Cosette, played by Samantha Barks and Amanda Seyfried, respectively. 

The pop star didn’t get the role, clearly. But there were no hard feelings. “I had more of the look of Cosette,” Swift said. “But I had the range vocally of Eponine. So it was established that I was there for a good time, not a long time.”

She knew she wasn’t going to get the role. But when the casting directors asked if she would like to come to London and do a screen test with Redmayne, Swift jumped at the chance. Things didn’t go the way she planned, though — instead of getting to look her best meeting Redmayne, Swift’s teeth were covered in brown paint, and makeup artists put dark shadows under her eyes. 

Making matters worse, Redmayne was dressed in normal clothes! However, he had his own worries. The actor had eaten garlic bread before the screen test and was worried about how his breath smelled. Hearing his side of the story, Swift laughed, “It’s nice to hear we were both struggling in that moment.”