Domhnall Gleeson recalls working in Taylor Swift’s Opalitemusic video as a career highlight, but the story behind the project has a shocking element to it.
The 43-year-old Irish actor has previously shared the story of how he got casted in the video, but he shared a new detail during his interview with Jimmy Fallon.
Gleeson told Fallon that Swift had watched his movie, The Paper, as preparation to come on the Graham Norton Showwith him, and Cillian Murphy, who was also on the show, said, “that he really liked my dancing in The Paper. And my character dances a lot, it’s very stupid. And so I made a joke, like, ‘Yeah, I’m hoping to get in a Taylor Swift music video.’ And she made this face… like, ‘That’s interesting.’ Two weeks later… got a call that she wanted all of us, and Graham Norton, to be in her music video, and made it happen like two weeks after that.”
The Ex Machina star continued, “It was insane. She’s amazing. So they only told me about the dance like two days before. And then her amazing choreographer, Mandy [Moore], spent all of the evening the night before, like, teaching me what is a very simple dance, but it took so long. And you haven’t known real sadness until you’ve seen an Irish man with red hair in his underpants just… well no, that wasn’t with Mandy, that was when I went back to my hotel room! But practicing all night long. I was so terrified, but it worked out great and I’m really proud of the video.”
Although Gleeson only had two days to learn the choreography, the video does not show it, and fans flocked together to appreciate, writing, “Amazing how he still nailed it with just 2 days to learn! Gleeson’s a pro!”
2026-09-11 18:41:00
