Amid all the glitzy premieres and highly anticipated art-house fare of the Toronto International Film Festival, it took an appearance by potential Oscar aspirant Taylor Swift to generate a rock-concert atmosphere.
Fans lined up on the street for hours, hoping for a glimpse of their heroine, who is here at TIFF for a 35mm showing of and conversation about “All Too Well: The Short Film.” The mini-movie generated quite the pop-culture splash when it dropped in November of last year (due to a different calendar for short films that more closely aligns to the festivals needed to qualify for Oscars, the movie is eligible for the 2023 awards).
Google searches related to “Taylor Swift scarf” skyrocketed. Dionne Warwick insisted the ex-beau in the song — let’s be honest, it’s Jake Gyllenhaal — return the scarf immortalized in the lyrics to her: “Box it up and I will pay the cost of postage, Jake,” she said in a tweet. Even BTS weighed in, saying at the AMAs that she probably doesn’t need it back because she might have “a million” scarves.
And the song, which despite not having been released as a single in its original, 5:28 version on her album “Red,” streamed in its full 10-minute glory from her re-recorded “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and went gold.
Swift will discuss her short film, which stars “Stranger Things” actor Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, with TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey following the screening, and this story will be updated from the live event.
