Taylor Swift Is Truly Giving
Taylor Swift is stretching herself in all of her creative endeavors.
The award-winning country singer currently plays the role of Rosemary in The Giver, which is based on a best-selling young adult novel of the same name.
The Giver is the haunting story of Jonas, (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, but colorless world, of conformity and contentment. It is a world without love, pain, or emotion, and it is portrayed in black and white.
As Jonas begins to spend time with The Giver, played by Jeff Bridges, who is the sole keeper of all of the community memories, he quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of the community’s secret past.
He learns about The Giver’s daughter Rosemary, played by Swift, a piano player, who perished under the weight of all of the secrets. The new film, from The Weinstein Company, also stars Meryl Streep and Katie Holmes.
With her long blonde hair cascading down her back with blunt bangs, a blue silk dress, and bright red lips, Taylor Swift looked stunning during a recent New York chat for The Giver.
It is not surprising that Swift was a big sister to Emma Tremblay, the youngest member of the cast, coming to her aid to adjust her microphone and offering words of encouragement.
As a philanthropist, Taylor supports arts education, children’s literacy, natural disaster relief, anti-discrimination efforts, and charities for sick children. In fact, earlier in August Taylor visited the Boston Children’s Hospital room of Jordan Lee Nickerson, a six-year-old boy who wished to meet her while he was undergoing dire cancer treatment.
The singer heard about the boy’s battle with cancer, and decided to pay a visit on the day he had to undergo chemotherapy. She asked him his favorite song and then had a jam session in which Taylor played him her smash single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”. The boy’s mom said the singer’s visit made her son’s spirits soar.
The lovely 24-year-old singer and songwriter is a seven-time Grammy winner and the youngest winner in the history of the music industry’s high honor, The Grammy Award for album of the year. She is the only female artist in music history, the fourth artist ever, to twice have an album [2012’s Red and 2010’s Speak Now], hit the 1 million mark first-week sales figures.
Swift is known for narrative songs about her personal experiences. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift’s other achievements include 12 Billboard Music Awards, eleven Country Music Association Awards and seven Academy of Country Music Awards. To date, she has sold over 26 million albums and 75 million digital single downloads.
Her most recent tour for Speak Now played 111 shows to more than 1.5 million fans in sold-out stadiums in 19 countries spanning four continents in 2011 and 2012.
A major force in the music industry with millions of adoring fans around the world, Taylor voices the character of Audrey in the 2012 animated movie, Dr. Seuss: The Lorax. She appeared in the film Valentine’s Day, has hosted Saturday Night Live, and had a guest starring role in the TV drama CSI.
Q: I was wondering, in such an emotional role in the movie The Giver, what you did as a group or personally do to decompress a little bit.
TAYLOR SWIFT: We jammed. We did a lot of music. Yeah, we did.
Q: Tell me more.
TS: My scenes with Jeff were mostly at the piano, so we were talking music all the time and between scenes, we’d break out our [guitars] and pick a little bit. We had great jam sessions. 
Q: Always making music — sounds nice. Did you read the book The Giver before you took this role? Were you familiar with it?
TS: When I read the book it was one of those things that really changed my perspective on a lot of things. When I read it I was probably in fifth grade and at the time I didn’t do a lot of thinking about the distant future, as far as out society goes at that point in my life.
Q: So what did the book do for you at that tender age?
TS: This book really kind of switched that up for me and kind of really blew my mind in a way that stuck with me. And when I got this strict I just immediately thought I’m going to say yes to this. I really hope it’s a good adaptation, I hope it’s a good portrayal of this, because if it is – if it’s anything like the book had on me then I’m going to do this.
Q: What appealed to you about the book that stayed with you all these years?
TS: I loved that this book celebrates all the things I hold really dear and are important to me, like our history, our music, our art, our intellect and our memories.
Q: Obviously, there is a lot of attention [for you] given that this is a significant step for you in the acting world. I’m sure you’ve had some opportunities; some offers have come your way. What were you looking for? And what about this movie, The Giver, made it the right time and the right project?
TS: Like Meryl Streep mentioned, it’s unbelievable to even think about having the opportunity to work with Jeff [Bridges], so I think for me that was just an unbelievable concept that I would get to do this dream scenario where I get to have a very small role that has a pivotal part in the story, but isn’t jumping into too deep water your first time in a serious, dramatic movie.
Q: Please tell me more.
TS: I think that the fact that it was all those things put together, the fact that it was a story that stuck with me from my childhood, the fact that it was written by an author I really respect, the fact that it celebrates all the things that I hold really dear, the things that are most important to me, like our history and our music and our art and our intellect and our memories, I think that that really had a great deal to do with why I wanted to be a part of this.
Q: How do you think your music fans will relate to you in this movie?
TS: I think it…in a world where right now I’m seeing so many of my fans and these people write to me on Instagram and Twitter and letters, saying that they’re having such a tough time with life because they can’t imagine that we can experience such great pain, such intense loss, such insecurity.
Q: If you could talk to each of your fans and give them advice what would it be?
TS: The thing that I just wish I could tell them over and over again is that we live for these fleeting moments of happiness. Happiness is not a constant, it’s something that we only experience a glimpse of every once in a while, but it’s worth it. And I think that’s what they’ll take away from this movie.
Q: Do you hope to make more films in addition to your music?
TS: Yes, if I feel the part and the movie is right for me and I am right for it. Definitely.
The post Taylor Swift Talks Her Role In “The Giver” And More! also appeared on PCM Reviews.