Taylor Swift is coming off what many consider to be the most successful year of her nearly two-decade long career.
She kicked off 2024 with a historic fourth Album Of The Year win at the Grammys and, just a few months later, released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.
The singer, 35, wrapped her record-breaking Eras Tour, which grossed $2billion in ticket sales, earlier this month after nearly two years on the road.
And now, with no new album or a tour on the horizon, fans are predicting that 2025 will mark a major career shift for Swift.
Many believe that Swift will finally begin production on her highly-anticipated feature film directorial debut.
It was first announced in 2022 that the Anti-Hero singer had agreed to team up with Searchlight Pictures to helm her first-ever full-length film.
After wrapping a world tour and releasing a new album this year, fans are convinced that Taylor Swift has filmmaking on the docket for 2025; Swift seen in November
Variety reported at the time that Swift already had an original script written.
As to keep the project under wraps, no plot or casting details were revealed.
In a joint statement, Searchlight presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield gushed about embarking on a ‘creative journey’ with Swift.
‘Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller. It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey,’ they wrote.
Neither Swift or Searchlight Pictures have provided any update on the film since the partnership was confirmed over two years ago.
This was most likely due to Swift’s hectic work schedule that included the release of two new albums, two re-recorded albums, a concert film and a massive world tour.
But fans believe that Swift has kept her schedule ‘open’ for 2025 in the hopes of finally bringing her long-awaited feature to light.
She also appears to be back on her typical two-year album cycle, which means no new music ventures until at least 2026.
Fans on social media are predicting that Swift will finally begin production on her long-awaited feature film directorial debut
It was first announced in 2022 that the Anti-Hero singer had agreed to team up with Searchlight Pictures to helm her first-ever full-length film. According to Variety, Swift has already written an original script; Swift seen in September
Taking to Reddit, many Swifties speculated that the 13-time Grammy-winner will spend much of next year shooting the unnamed film.
As for a release date, several fans confidently suggested it could hit theaters by ‘early 2026.’
Meanwhile, others pointed out that a 2026 release could be unlikely as films ‘take a long time to make’ — even if shooting is on schedule.
Fans also speculated about the script, with some wondering if it could be based off an unreleased novel that Swift penned when she was just 14-year-old, titled A Girl Named Girl.
The book is reportedly about ‘a mother who wanted a son instead of a daughter.’ Swift’s parents, Scott and Andrea Swift, are believed to be the only people in possession of the book.
Swift’s project with Searchlight Pictures will not mark her first foray into directing.
Since bursting onto the music scene in 2006, the Lover hitmaker has self-directed 13 of her 61 music videos.
Many of her videos have featured cameos from major stars like Post Malone, Laura Dern and Miles Teller.
And Dern, who appeared in Swift’s 2022 music video Bejeweled, called Swift a ‘real deal filmmaker’ as she reflected on the experience in 2024.
Swift’s project with Searchlight Pictures will not mark her first foray into directing; Swift seen in November
‘On top of everything else amazing that she does and is a real deal filmmaker, which I got to experience firsthand,’ Dern said on TheWrap’s UnWrapped podcast.
‘I’m excited to watch that part of her journey wherever she continues to take it amongst everything.’
Swift took her directing career up a notch in 2021 with the release of her acclaimed 15-minute short film, All Too Well.
Starring Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf hunk Dylan O’Brien, the project served as a visual for the 10-minute version of her 2012 ballad of the same name.
The song has long been rumored to be about Swift’s short-lived, age-gap romance with Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, who was nine years older than her when they dated in 2010.
Swift made it clear that the short film was ‘not a music video’ and that her and her team ‘approached everything differently,’ as per Variety.
In the same sit-down she also admitted to suffering from ‘imposter syndrome’ while writing the script.
‘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 [film/screenwriting],’ Swift recalled telling herself.
Since bursting onto the music scene in 2006, the Lover hitmaker has self-directed 13 of her 61 music videos, including 2024’s Fortnight; Swift pictured on set of Fortnight
Swift took her directing career up a notch in 2021 with the release of her acclaimed 15-minute short film, All Too Well; Swift seen on set of All Too Well
All Too Well premiered in New York City on November 12, 2021 and received a limited theatrical release in major cities in North America.
It took home the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 2022 ceremony.
Over the years, Swift has repeatedly spoke about how ‘fulfilling’ being behind the camera has been for her.
She teased her desire to helm a feature film in July 2022 — five months before her deal with Searchlight Pictures was announced.
‘It would be so fantastic to write and direct something… a feature. I don’t see it being bigger, in terms of scale,’ she told the audience at that year’s Tribeca Festival, as per Variety.
She hinted that she would want to make another film as ‘intimate’ as All Too Well.
In December 2022, Swift sat down with The Banshees Of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh, 54, for Variety’s Directors on Directors series.
‘It would be so fantastic to write and direct something… a feature. I don’t see it being bigger, in terms of scale,’ she said at the 2022 Tribeca Festival, as per Variety; Swift seen in 2023
In December 2022, Swift said she ‘always wanted to tell stories’ but didn’t realize until later in life that directing was her calling; Swift seen on set of All Too Well (2021)
During the candid chat, Swift said she ‘always wanted to tell stories’ but didn’t realize until later in life that directing was her calling.
‘I have always written stories, poetry, songs. And I think this just grew out of that storytelling. And the more I did it, the more I loved it,’ she explained.
Her call to direct came in 2019 when she struggled to find a female auteur to direct the music video for her feminist anthem, The Man.
‘The few that I reached out to were fortunately booked … So I was like, “I could do it, maybe.” And when I did direct, I just thought, “This is actually more fulfilling than I ever could have imagined,”‘ Swift recalled.
What was born out of ‘necessity,’ has since become Swift’s go-to as she has continued to helm her music videos.
At the time, she told Academy Award-winner McDonagh that she was pacing herself when it came to directing projects.
Instead of jumping right into a full-length feature, she has been ‘just inching my way along toward taking on more responsibility’ by making music videos and short films.
