Fans of Taylor Swift say they are "convinced" the megastar is set to change career paths after the release of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore last week. The 36-year-old surprised Swifties with an extended version of her latest album, featuring four new tracks, including her new single, Patient Zero.
VMA success and directorial ambitions
On Sunday, September 27, Taylor unveiled her self-directed music video for Patient Zero at the MTV Video Music Awards, starring Dakota Johnson, Colin Farrell, and Cara Delevingne. She has also directed the video for All Too Well (10-minute version) in 2021, featuring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien.
In June 2026, Taylor released I Knew It, I Knew You, written for Disney Pixar's Toy Story 5. In an interview with BuzzFeed UK earlier this month, Tom Cruise expressed his desire to work with her.
"Let's go make a movie," he said. The Top Gun star added: "She's absolutely brilliant. She's a brilliant writer. Brilliant. If she ever decided to direct, she could be a director of feature films. I know she does her videos, and she does a beautiful job, so it would be amazing to work with her on anything."
Fans spot 'PR roadmap'
At Sunday's VMAs, Taylor won three awards for her production work: Video of the Year for Fate of Ophelia, Best Direction for Opalite, and Artist Director Honors, becoming the inaugural recipient of the latter. Accepting the award, she revealed she has worked on around 60 videos in total, directing 18 of them.
"I've got to tell you though the main reason why I love writing and directing music videos so much is because you, the fans, make it so much fun," she said on stage. "You make it so rewarding because you actually care about what we're making."
Responding to a clip of her speech, one fan wrote on X: "You can tell Taylor Swift is PR'ing her transition into writing and directing TV or film, and trust me, the PR roadmap is clear: Toy Story 5, the planted Tom Cruise comment about 'directing', and an 'Artist Director' award MTV made just to do PR for her."
A second person agreed: "None of this is accidental and it has been four years in the making. Taylor has even said that she would like to direct next after the Midnights album. She even talked to The Banshees of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh, which also starred Colin Farrell in 2022."
Fans predict Oscar win
A third shared: "I told my husband tonight that she will win a Best Director Oscar within 10 years." A fourth X user commented: "I wish and hope she moves into the film industry cos her music videos sometimes look like short films and I would love to see more."
A fifth concurred: "It makes sense; I think she got what she wanted out of her musical career, she's basically the reigning champion (though I don't think this means she's done with music altogether)."
