“He’s so tall, and handsome as hell” – but is he Alexander Skarsgård?
For years, one of the favorite Swiftie fan theories has purported that Taylor Swift’s steamy song “Wildest Dreams” from her 1989 album was written about the Swedish actor, with whom she briefly worked on the 2014 film The Giver.
Dax Shepard attempted to get Skarsgård to speak on the matter in a new episode of his Armchair Expert podcast.
Shepard told his guest that for years, he has tried convincing his two young daughters, who are big fans of Swift’s music, that the song is actually about him. He recalled how he continued the bit when he took his 12-year-old daughter, Lincoln, to an Eras Tour concert in Lisbon, Portugal, and Swift played the song during the 1989 portion of her set.
“And then in my f—ing research today, I read that the song is about you,” Shepard told Skarsgård, who laughed and then tried to pin it back on Shepard.
“Wait, she saw you in the audience, and she’s like, ‘I’m gonna sing this song’ — maybe it is about you,” Skarsgård joked of Shepard, adding, “I wasn’t in the crowd in Lisbon, so it was clearly about you.”
Shepard then asked his guest if he, too, had “the same fear to either acknowledge or deny that that could be true because the power of the Swifties is so strong that you just don’t wanna talk about it.”
The Murderbot actor laughed and admitted, “Yeah.”
Shepard then remarked that he couldn’t believe he’d been making that joke with his kids for six years.
Skarsgård added, “It’s about Brad Pitt, guys, let’s be honest.”
The actor didn’t confirm or deny that the song is about him, but he did eventually joke, “I’m going to be honest. I wrote the lyrics of that song myself and sent it to Taylor. ‘Taylor, here’s what you should say.’”
Jokes aside, when the topic of being a fan of Swift’s music came up, Skarsgård sweetly said, “We’re all Swifties.”
The theory goes like this: Because the “Wildest Dreams” music video depicts a short-lived fling between two film costars, and because the video was shot in South Africa like The Giver, and because Swift dons a dark-haired wig in both the video and the film, the song could be about Skarsgård. The song itself doesn’t provide many clues to the love interest’s identity other than the aforementioned lyrics that he is “so tall” and “handsome as hell,” but that hasn’t stopped Swifties from speculating.
For her part, Swift never confirms who her songs are about (if anyone), and “Wildest Dreams” is no different.