Taylor Swift had ‘imposter syndrome’ before directing ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’

Words: Rachel Felder

Taylor Swift took the stage at a sold-out venue in New York City on Saturday (11 June) that was filled with her fans, but the main focus of the appearance wasn’t actually her music.

The event, part of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival, was a screening of All Too Well: The Short Film, written and directed by Swift, that also dropped on Spotify and Apple Music this weekend. The movie, which combines dialogue with the song that inspired it, follows a wide-eyed young woman, played by Sadie Sink and her older boyfriend, portrayed by Dylan O’Brien. The story of the intense relationship is rumoured to be based on Swift’s real-life liason with Jake Gyllenhaal about a dozen years ago.

While All Too Well: The Short Film isn’t Swift’s first foray into directing – she directed a few of her music videos, like ‘Willow’ and ‘Cardigan’ – she explained at a Q&A that was part of the event that bring behind the camera still feels like new territory.

“It’s me stepping outside of what I usually do, which is writing songs and singing them,” she said.  “It is a kind of vulnerable moment where you’re trying something new and really hoping that you do everything perfectly, but it is important to remind yourself that you shouldn’t do everything perfectly, because you need to learn, you need to grow.”

For years, she said, she watched other directors work on her videos and began thinking about how she might do things differently.

“Eventually I thought, ‘I really want to do this,’ and I think I had this imposter syndrome in my head saying, ‘No, you don’t do that, other people do that who went to school to do that.’”

The engaging film had the audience cheering, even before they were treated to a few surprises. As the event’s finale, Swift strapped on a red guitar and performed an acoustic version of ‘All Too Well’, sung with all the empowering bile of someone who’s weathered a painful breakup and emerged a stronger person.

The film’s stars, Silk and O’Brien, also appeared as unadvertised participants during part of the Q&A, and raved about working with Swift.

O’Brien said, “She possesses innate qualities in a director that I feel usually are always tied to experience: trust, her ability to make a decision in the moment, her confidence, knowing what she wants, allowing her actors to construct a scene on their own.”

The conversation was led by Oscar-nominated director Mike Mills, whose short film based on The National’s ‘I Am Easy to Find’, Swift called “one of the most influential things I’ve watched.”

Amongst the fans in the audience was RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan and director Jim Jarmusch, who attended with his daughter. He was impressed by Swift.

“I just think she’s capable of probably doing anything she puts her mind to,” he said.

Chances are, that will include, at some point, feature-length filmmaking.

“It would so fantastic to write and direct something, a feature,” Swift said.