Taylor Swift shouts out ‘genius’ cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto during VMAs Video of the Year acceptance speech
Travis Kelce wasn’t the only person Taylor Swift thanked while accepting her 2024 MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year on Wednesday. Swift – who won seven awards during the ceremony, bringing her lifetime total to 30, tying Beyonce for the most VMAs ever – made sure to show gratitude to several collaborators who helped her make the video for “Fortnight,” including stars Josh Charles and Ethan Hawke, featured artist Post Malone, and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto.
“Directing this video and putting it together and writing it was the most wonderful experience. And that is because of all the people that I got to make it with, and that includes Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles who were amazing cameos,” she said. “That includes my amazing cinematographer/DP Rodrigo Prieto, who goes out of his way to work with female directors. He’s a genius, and I can’t believe I got to work with him. As well as Ethan Tobman, my amazing production designer who I’ve worked with on the Eras Tour. Post Malone who we love so much. And you know, the thing is that this video seems very sad when you watch it, but it actually was like the most fun video to make.”
More from GoldDerby
The full speech is below.
Taylor Swift thanks her boyfriend Travis Kelce during her acceptance speech for video of the year at the 2024 #VMAs pic.twitter.com/7VbsBs1ohZ
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 12, 2024
Prieto is a four-time Oscar nominee and he has worked with some of the greatest filmmakers of all-time, including Martin Scorsese (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Silence,” “The Irishman,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Lust, Caution”), Alejandro G. Inarritu (“Amores Perros,” “21 Grams,” “Babel,” “Biutiful”), Pedro Almodovar (“Broken Embraces”), Oliver Stone (“Alexander,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”), Cameron Crowe (“We Bought a Zoo”), Ben Affleck (“Argo”), and Julie Taymor (“Frida,” “Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Glorias”). His Oscar nominations came for “Brokeback Mountain,” “Silence,” “The Irishman,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
But Swift is no slouch. The singer, who directed the video for “Fortnight,” has also worked with Prieto four times since 2020 – the same number of times the acclaimed cinematographer has worked with Scorsese.
“Rodrigo was at the top of a dream list of DPs I had put together for this video, but I never dreamed he would be available or interested,” Swift told American Cinematographer in 2020 about the video for “The Man,” her first collaboration with Prieto. That video was heavily influenced by “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which Prieto had shot.
“I had referenced his style, his versatility, and his approach as an example of what I was looking for. I’m a huge fan of the work he’s done, and I still can’t believe my luck, having gotten to work with him,” she said.
Speaking to Vanity Fair that same year about their follow-up video for “cardigan,” Prieto said he greatly enjoyed working with Swift because of her decisiveness behind the camera.
“I really like it when a director like Taylor has a very specific perspective and yet, she’s always listening to what others have to say and she’s asking, ‘What do you think? Do you think this is good? Do you like it? Do you have a different idea?’” Prieto said. “And sometimes we would propose something different perhaps, and if she didn’t like it, she would say so, and fine. It’s not that she’s asking for an opinion because she doesn’t know what to do; she’s asking for an opinion to hear what the collaborators have to say. And if she likes that idea better, she’ll go with it. In that sense, she doesn’t have this sort of fragile ego where she’s trying to be the director, [like] the director has to do always what the director thinks and is a little dictator. She’s not like that.”
Assuming she eventually stops touring, appearing at major sporting events, or driving massive numbers of fans to voter registration sites, Swift will someday make her feature directorial debut for Searchlight Pictures. Back in 2022, it was revealed Searchlight agreed to produce an original script written by Swift for the screen. Asked last year about the possible project, Prieto said he was aware it was in the works and praised Swift for her prowess as a filmmaker.
“Obviously she’s quite an artist, but she’s also an excellent director. I must say the stuff I’ve done with her, the music videos, she’s been extraordinary,” Prieto said to TheWrap. “Someone who didn’t grow up as a director – she’s a musician and a singer and wonderful at that – to see that she understands cinema and understands storytelling, she understands how to tell the story with a camera and she’s great with the technical aspects as well. She’s another person I admire very much, so if I had the opportunity to work with her, I’d be thrilled.”
Watch their winning video below.
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
