Taylor Swift All Too Well short film: Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien's age difference is an easter egg

13 November 2021, 00:41

Taylor Swift opens up about casting Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien in the All Too Well film

By Katie Louise Smith

How old are Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien? Their age difference in in Taylor Swift's All Too Well short film is actually one big easter egg.

Loading audio...

Thought you were about to get a peaceful night's sleep after spending all day crying your eyes out to Red (Taylor's Version)? Think again, bestie. We've still got one more surprise to come: Taylor Swift's All Too Well short film.

Yep, Taylor just dropped a short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien based on the heartbreaking narrative that runs through the iconic song.

When Taylor shared the news that Sadie and Dylan would be starring opposite each other in the short film, some people raised their eyebrows over their considerable age gap. Sadie is currently 19 years old, while Dylan is 30.

However, there might be a very specific reason as to why Taylor chose to cast those particular actors – and their ages are a pretty important factor.

How old are Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien?

What is Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal's age gap?

As you may or may not know by now (and if you don't, where the hell have you been!?), 'All Too Well' is reportedly about Taylor's break-up with Jake Gyllenhaal. The pair dated back in 2010, when Taylor was 20/21 and Jake was 29/30.

In the recently released 10-minute version of 'All Too Well', Taylor even sings about the difference in age about her and her ex. Referencing the age gap, Taylor sings, "You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine."

Taylor has said that the entire short film is based on the narrative within the song, so the ages of both Sadie and Dylan therefore reflect the characters in the story.

The reason why Taylor decided to cast those two specific actors didn't click with some Swifties at first, but once they realised that it was all just another one of Taylor's clever easter eggs, they were fully on board.

i was wondering why they had cast someone as young as sadie, racking my brain how she fit in all this and then it HIT ME she is the exact age taylor was when she dated jake and dylan is mch older she really did that byeeee
— alice 🧣💛 (@weareholyground) November 5, 2021

dylan o'brien being 30 years old and sadie sink being 19 = almost the same age jake and taylor were when they dated...oh she knows what she's doing EVERYTHING is intentional
— bethany (@fiImgal) November 5, 2021

taylor really made the age gap between sadie sink and dylan o'brien the same as her and jake gyllenhaal, jake is truly never getting a break ever
— emily (@NEVERASAlNT) November 5, 2021

Speaking to Seth Meyers about the short film on Late Night, Taylor revealed that the only two actors she envisioned playing the characters were Sadie and Dylan.

Sadie was the first actor that Taylor approached, but if Sadie had said no, Taylor confessed that she doesn't think she would have gone through with making the film at all.

All Too Well (The Short Film) was written and directed by Taylor herself, and it features cinematography from Rina Yang, who has worked on Phoebe Bridgers' 'Saviour Complex' video, Sam Smith's 'Diamonds' video, Netflix's Top Boy, HBO's Euphoria season 2 and more.

Listen to Peppermint and Jackie Cox talk about their coming out journeys

This week on the ‘Coming Out Chats’ podcast, Drag Race legends Peppermint and Jackie Cox talk about coming out in the age of AOL messenger, identifying as gender-expansive, finding your tribe and giving yourself permission to be who you really are. Listen on the player below.