“It was as all-consuming as writing a song is,” the pop star said of the film in an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the All Too Well premiere in New York City. “Directing, I felt as fulfilled by it as I did when I craft a song, and think about every aspect of it and it comes together and then it goes out in the world. There are so many moving pieces.” From Easter eggs to hidden references to what the fans are saying, here is everything you need to know about Taylor Swift’s All Too Well short film.
When did Taylor Swift’s short film All Too Well come out?
The All Too Well short film was released Friday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. ET on YouTube. On the eve of the release, Swift made an appearance on The Tonight Show where she announced that there will be a premiere at New York’s AMC Lincoln Square 13. At the event, she reportedly told her fans, “For me personally, this song is 100 percent about us and you,” then performed the entire, 10-minute version of the song live.
Who is in Taylor Swift’s All Too Well short film?
In addition to Swift, All Too Well stars Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf actor Dylan O’Brien. It seems the short film was destiny for Sink, who once admitted that “All Too Well” is her favorite song to scream the lyrics to. “You don’t even know how excited I am. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, really,” the Netflix star previously said about the 10-minute version of Swift’s track. Swift was seemingly just as obsessed with having Sink star in the film. As she reportedly said at the film’s premiere, “I probably wouldn’t have done the movie if Sadie had said no.” Meanwhile, O’Brien said at the premiere, “I couldn’t believe she wanted me to be a part of it. It’s like an honor, you know. I knew what this meant to her, and her fans, and I’m one of them.”
Is there a trailer for Taylor Swift’s All Too Well short film?
When Swift announced the project on Nov. 5, one week before its release, she also shared a teaser trailer. The 30-second video showed a car driving down a scenic, tree-lined road in autumn.
How long is Taylor Swift’s All Too Well film?
The short film clocks in at 14 minutes and 56 seconds on YouTube.
What happens in All Too Well?
The highly anticipated film opens with a quote from poet Pablo Nerudathat reads, “Love is so short, forgetting is so long,” before cutting to Sink and O’Brien—whose characters’ names are never revealed—laying down next to each other. “Are you for real?” she asks him, to which he replies, “What do you mean?” “I don’t know, I just feel like maybe I made you up,” Sink’s character answers. Swift then proceeds to take fans on an emotional rollercoaster with her film, showing the couple enjoying an escape upstate, hiking and passionately making out. The film is structured by what read like chapter titles that appear onscreen: The “First Crack in the Glass” between the two comes at a dinner party with O’Brien’s character’s friends, during which he absentmindedly lets go of his girlfriend’s hand. She later tells her boyfriend that she felt out of place and that he treated her differently. Following an explicit, heated exchange, O’Brien apologizes. While it seems things are fine between the pair after making up (dancing in the kitchen and seemingly being intimate), they reach a breaking point that leaves Sink upset and sobbing in a bed alone. Sink is then seen typing away on a typewriter, but crumbles the paper. The film ends with Swift playing an older version of Sink, who has published a novel 13 years after her romance titled All Too Well. Swift (sporting red hair like Sink!) is seen giving a reading from the book, while a man, presumably her unrequited love, watches from a window…wearing the red scarf. Now we are unwell!
Are there All Too Well short film Easter eggs?
Yep, a bunch! Keep reading for our list of all the little gems and hidden secrets we found in the film.
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 1: The age difference
Swifties were quick to point out that the age gap between the film’s stars—Sink, 19, and O’Brien, 30—is similar to that of Swift and Gyllenhaal’s. The latter turned 30 in December 2010—which is when the real-life Swift and Gyllenhaal reportedly split—while Swift celebrated her 21st birthday that same month.
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 2: The red scarf
Of course, the scarf Swift sings about in the song makes an appearance in the beginning and the end of All Too Well.
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 3: The reference to her lucky number 13
The time jump in the end is 13 years, which just happens to Swift’s lucky number. One fan believes the years that have passed could have another connection to Swift, who turns 32 on Dec. 13. The fan tweeted, “NAHHH SHUT UP SAIDE SINK IS 19 AND ONE OF THE CHAPTERS WAS 13 YEARS LATER 19 + 13= 32 AND HOW OLD IS BLONDIE TURNING THIS YEAR.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 4: The book
Another social media user wrote that the final book-reading scene is “Taylor telling her story, as an author, and watching fans cry and relate as she reads the words. It’s a literal interpretation of her releasing and singing ‘All Too Well’ and watching us as fans react to it and embrace it.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 5: The name
As it turns out, the actor who played “Him” at the end of the film is named Jake, YES, Jake Lyon. Coincidence that his name is Jake? We think not… One social media user tweeted, “The All Too Well Short Film really cast someone named Jake Lyon to play ‘Him, Later On’ No really. His name is Jake. Also, how did this casting process go? “Hey we’re looking for someone whose back of head and quarter face looks just like Jake Gyllenhaal” ???? Genius.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 6: The photo from Post Ranch Inn
Aside from a bearded O’Brien wearing a beanie and bomber jacket, which could be a nod to Gyllenhaal’s typical sense of style, Swift appeared to include a framed photo from Post Ranch Inn in the short film. Swifties will recall that Jake and the singer were spotted at the inn in Big Sur, California back in 2010. According to MTV, an onlooker told Us Weekly that the actor was “holding Taylor’s hand” during their date.
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 7: The fall vibes
The scenes of Sink and O’Brien’s characters frolicking in fall evoke memories of the famous paparazzi picture taken of Gyllenhaal and Swift in New York during Thanksgiving weekend 2010.
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 8: The book
One eagle-eyed TikToker also noticed that Swift’s All Too Well book in the film is the notebook the performer was writing in in her “Basic autumn lovers RISE” TikTok. In the October social media video, she even wrote a lyric from “All Too Well” in the notebook: “Just between us, did the love affair maime you too?”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 9: The car
The car the pair ride in during their upstate escape was made in 1989, you know, which also happens to be the name of one of Swift’s albums! Swift herself seemed to confirm that this was intentional; when a fan pointed out the coincidence, Swift commented, “Can’t stop, won’t stop being cryptic and weird–that’s just the beginning, it’s gonna be a fun week.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 10: The rearview mirror
In that car, Sink is seen looking into the rearview mirror. Swift has used rearview mirrors as a motif in songs of hers like “Long Story Short,” Style,” “White Horse” and “Wildest Dreams.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 11: The stained glass cat
It also seems cat-loving Swift managed to sneak in a tribute to her cats with the stained glass picture.
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 12: The dropped hand
In the non-musical portion of the short film, O’Brien and Sink’s characters have a huge fight over the fact that he let go of her hand at the dinner table. Swift also makes note of a dropped hand on her track “Champagne Problems” from her 2020 release evermore, singing, ““Because I dropped your hand while dancing / Left you out there standing / Crestfallen on the landing / Champagne problems.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 13: Doing the dishes
Likewise, that fight scene shows Sink standing at a sink (hey!) doing the dishes at the start of their fight—and on another evermore track, “Tolerate It,” Swift sings, “I take your indiscretions all in good fun / I sit and listen / I polish plates until they gleam and glisten / You’re so much older and wiser and I / I wait by the door like I’m just a kid.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 14: Chocolate chip cookies
And chocolate chips cookies! It was reported that at the 1989 secret sessions, the songstress, who is known for baking, made “bulk batches of chocolate chip” cookies. Per PEOPLE, she once tweeted, “@chefanneburrell saw you in my mentions & wanted to let you know that your chocolate chip cookie recipe was a real turning point in my life.”
All Too Well short film Easter Egg 15: Sink’s character’s dad
Who plays the dad in that scene with the chocolate chips? Shawn Levy, a director on the series Sink’s most famous for, Stranger Things! No doubt Swift appreciates the Easter eggs fans are finding. At the All Too Well premiere, Swift praised her fans as the “best detectives in the world.” “I love watching their theories too,” she told Access. “I like scroll TikTok like watching their theories so often, all the time. I love to just watch what they come up with because they’re brilliant.” “I’m very into numerology,” Swift added. “Sometimes they find things that I didn’t even plan with math. 95 percent of the time I’m planning it, but there’s sometimes where they’re like, ‘The math!’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, the math!’”
How are fans reacting to All Too Well?
Safe to say Swifties are going to remember this project all too well. Scroll for reactions from fans:
How to watch All Too Well?
Good news, the film is available on YouTube! Watch it for free here:
When did Taylor Swift release the song “All Too Well”?
“All Too Well” was originally released in 2012 on Swift’s fourth studio album, Red. Since then, it’s been certified gold and has been widely hailed as perhaps the best song she’s ever written. On Vulture.com, “All Too Well” sits at No. 2 on a ranked list of Swift’s entire catalog (with Fearless’ “You Belong With Me” coming in at No. 1), while Rolling Stone’s rankings put “All Too Well” at the very top of Swift’s songwriting feats. Her performance of the track at the 2014 Grammys has also been lauded as a standout.
How long is “All Too Well” on the original Red album?
The original version clocks in at 5 minutes and 29 seconds.
Is the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” explicit?
Swift revealed in 2020 that the original version of the tune, before it was edited down, contained a swear word. “It included the F-word and basically I remember my sound guy was like, ‘Hey, I burned a CD of that thing that you were doing in case you want it.’ And I was like, ‘Sure,’” she said on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums podcast, per Billboard. “I ended up taking it home and listening to it. And I was like, ‘I actually really like this but it definitely is like 10 minutes long and I need to pare it down.’”
What is Taylor Swift’s song “All Too Well” about?
It’s been speculated that the track is about Swift’s relationship with ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal (making the “sister” referenced in the song’s first verse none other than his Oscar-nominated sibling, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal). An insider confirmed to Us Weekly in 2012 that the song was about the Southpaw actor, whom Swift briefly dated in 2010. “‘All Too Well’ was the hardest to write [emotionally] because it took me a long time to filter through everything that I wanted to put in the song. It started out being probably like a 10-minute song, which you can’t put on an album,” Swift told Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos back in 2012. “I had to filter it down to like a story that could work in the form of a song and I called my friend and co-writer Liz Rose and I said, ‘Come over, we’ve gotta filter this down,’ and it took me a really long time to get it to its final form.” Next, All the Easter Eggs in Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version)—Including All the Exes Referenced!
