“I just went with whatever came up in the moment. It was a crazy, fun acting game, and it happened to be in the final cut,” reflected the ‘Stranger Things’ star

Dylan O’Brien, Taylor Swift and Sadie Sink in New York City in November 2021. Photo:ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty

Sadie Sink is reflecting on her experience filming Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film
The actress opened up to Bustle about starring in the video alongside Dylan O’Brien
Sink recalled not realizing the dialogue from the memorable kitchen fight scene with O’Brien’s character would be used in the final version

Starring in Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film was a unique experience for Sadie Sink.

In a new interview with Bustle, the 22-year-old Stranger Things actress reflected on filming the 2021 music video and revealed the memorable kitchen fight scene with Dylan O’Brien was shot in just one take — with both actors unaware their dialogue would make it into the final cut.

Upon receiving the ask from Swift’s team to star in All Too Well: The Short Film, Sink was taken aback. “It was wildly confusing at first, because I never thought of myself as someone who would even reach her desk. But I grew up on her music and was such a fan,” she told the outlet.

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“She’s been such a huge part of my life,” Sink added of Swift. “If a song of hers reminded me of a character, I would use it to get into a role. She had always been a little voice in my head, so it was super surreal…It was amazing that she recognized that in me somehow, that I would understand the song, the message, the story she was trying to tell.”

Set to Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” an extended take on the fan-favorite track from her 2012 album, Red, the short film — directed by the musician —  chronicles a romantic relationship that ends in a rough breakup.

After shooting the “All Too Well” video, Sink — who stars in the new thriller A Sacrifice — was “really scared” to watch the finished version, mainly because she wasn’t expecting the kitchen fight with O’Brien to be featured.

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Dylan O’Brien; Taylor Swift; Sadie Sink. Jerritt Clark/Getty Images; Francis Specker/CBS via Getty Images; Amy Sussman/Getty Images

“When [Swift] told me she kept that scene, I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It was completely on the fly; I don’t remember anything I said; we only did one take,” recalled Sink.

“I remember they attached microphones to us, and I was like, ‘Why are they making us wear a mic?’ I thought they were just capturing our mouths moving and we were going to visualize a fight in the kitchen [with music playing over it],” she continued. “I just went with whatever came up in the moment. It was a crazy, fun acting game, and it happened to be in the final cut.”

Ultimately, Sink felt Swift’s choice to include the scene was “so cool and realistic” because real fights within relationships are “not supposed to be completely well thought-out.”

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Sadie Sink in New York City in February 2024.Jamie McCarthy/WireImage

“You may say the same thing over and over, but that’s real, and that’s natural. You don’t see a lot of natural dialogue in films,” she explained. “So for her to allow us the space to improvise and interact in a way that we would if we were actually having a fight with our partner, just really served the song and the story well.”

In December 2022, Swift wrote a heartfelt piece honoring Sink and her talents for Entertainment Weekly and reflected on the kitchen fight scene.

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Taylor Swift and Sadie Sink in Toronto in September 2022. Amy Sussman/Getty

“When she went head-to-head with Dylan O’Brien in an explosive argument scene, I decided to shoot the rehearsal on a whim,” said Swift at the time. “Good thing, because Sadie lit up that kitchen fight with ad-libbed lines, improvised twists and turns, and all with riveting nuance.”

The Grammy winner added, “The rehearsal is what ended up in the film, a one-shot battle that I didn’t have the nerve to cut down in the edit. Because EVERYTHING was captivating.”