Laura Dern praises Taylor Swift’s directing skills: ‘A real deal filmmaker’

Laura Dern can’t say enough good things about Taylor Swift.

During a March 29th appearance on TheWrap’s “UnWrapped” podcast, Dern recalled what it was like to star in Swift’s “Bejeweled” music video and she said she was glad to have Swift as the director.

“I love her,” Dern said. “She is a real deal, on top of everything else amazing that she does and is a real deal filmmaker, which I got to experience firsthand. So, I’m excited to watch that part of her journey wherever she continues to take it amongst everything.”

“Bejeweled” was one of Swift’s hit singles from her 2022 “Midnights” album. In the video, Dern stars as the evil stepmother in the “Cinderella”-themed video for “Bejeweled,” and in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Swift explained how she landed the big and small screen talent for her take on the fairy tale.

Since midnight is such a pivotal time in the story of “Cinderella,” the singer-songwriter knew it would work well for her new single.

“I was like, ‘What if we did a little twist on a Cinderella story, and I could cast my friends?'” she explained during “The Tonight Show” interview that aired moments before the video’s release.

Swift stepped into Cinderella’s slippers herself, and true to her friend-filled mission, she cast her besties, the Haim sisters, to play the stepsisters.

But she still needed someone to lead the dysfunctional family dynamic.

“What if we really shoot for the stars with the other casting? What if there was Oscar-winner Laura Dern playing my stepmother?” she recalled thinking.

So she picked up the phone and made it happen.

“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,'” Swift continued. “And she was like, ‘I’m down!’ She’s the coolest. She’s so funny.”

And Dern still counted toward her goal of casting friends, since they hit it off immediately.

“She’s another one I’m like, ‘Friend. You are my friend now,'” Swift added.

Swift wasn’t just Dern’s co-star in “Bejeweled,” which also featured familiar faces Dita Von Teese and Jack Antonoff. Swift also served as the director, though she told Fallon that role didn’t really require much work when it came to the “Jurassic Park” star.

“Directing Oscar-winner Laura Dern is easier than anything I’ve ever done in my life,” she said. “She’s just the greatest.”