Taylor Swift Filmed 3 Music-Free Scenes for ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’

In a recent interview, Taylor Swift spoke about her process making All Too Well: The Short Film. Among other things, she discussed the scene where the music stops, and the characters speak. Apparently, this was just one of three scenes like this the director shot.

‘All Too Well: The Short Film’ originally featured 3 music-free scenes directed by Taylor Swift

All Too Well: The Short Film came from a song Swift recorded in 2012. The song, titled “All Too Well,” is largely believed to be about Swift’s short-lived relationship with actor Jake Gyllenhaal. A decade later, Swift turned her hit song into a groundbreaking short film — and directed the project herself. 

In the beginning, the short film’s twenty-to-thirty-page script featured three music-free scenes. “I knew I wanted one scene to play out [without music] and I didn’t know which one it was going to be,” Swift tells The Banshees of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh in their Variety Directors on Directors conversation. 

When filming began, Swift decided to shoot all three music-free scenes with actors Sadie Sink (Stranger Things, The Whale) and Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf).

In one of the scenes, Sink’s Her and O’Brien’s Him fall in love. The second scene features them breaking up. The third was of them fighting. And while only the breakup scene was used for the final cut of All Too Well: The Short Film, Swift tells McDonagh she still has the footage including all three scenes. 

‘All Too Well: The Short Film’: Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien’s epic fight scene

When it came time to choose which scene would make the final cut of All Too Well: The Short Film, Swift says, “the fight was where we saw the most of who these people are and what the problems are.”

Filmed primarily in one continuous shot, the scene follows Her and Him after a dinner party. During the party scene, the viewer watches O’Brien’s character animatedly entertaining his older friends while ignoring Her. Then, suddenly, the music stops, and viewers are swept into a part-scripted, part-improvised argument between the characters. 

The scene is what Swift describes as a “portal glimpse” into the characters’ lives. “It really comes down to the idea that she [Sink’s character] does not feel seen in this relationship, and, on some level, he [O’Brien] doesn’t either.” 

How ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’ is different from music videos directed by Taylor Swift

All Too Well: The Short Film is not the first work directed by Swift, however. Her IMDb credits date back to her music video, “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” in 2008. But it wasn’t until her 2020 music video for “The Man” that she took the reins as a solo director.

But Swift also notes that All Too Well: The Short Film is not a music video. “It’s structured narratively in a way that I felt had to be different from any music video that I’ve made,” Swift says. She notes that the short film features chapters like in a book. 

Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film has received large critical acclaim since its release. It was also recently announced that Swift will be directing her first feature-length film with Searchlight Pictures, though any details are still very much under wraps.