After teasing that the upcoming visuals for songs from her new album Midnights would feature cameos, Taylor Swift revealed how she convinced Laura Dern to star in the movie for her song, “Bejeweled.”
Ahead of her Midnights album’s debut, a teaser trailer of “secret projects” from Swift was released during Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video. It was announced that Swift will release “Midnights music movies,” for which she will reteam with cinematographer Rina Yang, who worked with Swift on the All Too Well short film, for the visuals.
While appearing on Monday’s The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Swift discussed the star-studded cameos featured in the “Bejeweled” music movie including Dern, HAIM, longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, Dita Von Teese and Pat McGrath.
Swift explained to Fallon that the movie for “Bejeweled” is for the fans who “like glitter and Easter eggs and lots of little cameos.” The music movie, which Swift wrote and directed, portrays a spin on the Cinderella fairytale with Dern portraying the stepmother, HAIM as the stepsisters and Von Teese is what Swift dubbed the “fairy goddess.” Antonoff also stars as the prince.
Casting Dern in the movie required a simple ask, Swift explained: “I was like, ‘Oscar-winner Laura Dern, hello. I’ve written a script. It’s a one-scene script in which you are going to call me ‘a tired, tacky wench’ and she was like, ‘I’m down.’ “
Describing Dern as the “coolest,” Swift said directing the actress was “easier than anything I’ve ever done in my life.”
In the music movie, Swift plays “House Wench Taylor,” who is seen cleaning the floor while having to listen to her stepsisters (portrayed by HAIM) and “stepmommy” (Dern) discuss how anyone who wins the talent competition will get keys to their own castle and a marriage proposal from the prince. Later, after a transformed Cinderella Swift wins the talent competition, it is revealed that she “ghosted” the prince (Antonoff) but kept the castle for herself.
Swift teased that a “psychotic amount” of her signature Easter eggs are showcased throughout the movie. “We have a PDF file for the Easter eggs in this video because there are so many that we could not keep track,” she said.
“Bejeweled” marks the second song from the Midnights album to get the visual treatment following the release of “Anti-Hero,” which featured cameos from Mary Elizabeth Ellis, John Early and Mike Birbiglia.
Swift and Fallon also discussed the making of Midnights, which Swift admitted to feeling “overwhelmed” about given it’s her “first directly autobiographical album in a while.” She explained that because her previous album releases included Folklore and Evermore plus a rerecording of her Red album, it has been some time since she’s had a personal record such as Midnights and she’s feeling “soft and fragile” amid its’ release.
For the Midnights album, Swift worked with longtime collaborator Antonoff, with William Bowery (who Swift has since revealed to be her boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn) also credited as a songwriter for the track “Sweet Nothing.” Zoë Kravitz is also listed as a songwriter for the song “Lavender Haze” while Dylan O’Brien was revealed by Swift to be playing the drums on the Lana Del Rey collaboration “Snow on the Beach.” O’Brien, who starred in Swift’s All Too Well short film, spontaneously worked on the record while hanging out with Swift and Antonoff at the studio. Swift said the actor was just “trying out the drum kit” while at the studio, not being “serious,” but it led to him playing drums on the track. “Sometimes it just happens like that,” Swift said.
“I love to make things with my friends. I love to work with my friends,” Swift said. “This is a pretty dark album, but I’d say I had more fun making it than any album I’ve ever made.”
Later, Swift teased that she would be returning on tour, which would mark her first in four years. Swift’s 2021 Lover Fest shows were canceled due to ongoing safety concerns amid the pandemic. “I really miss it,” Swift said of touring.
