Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran aren’t done yet with their ten-year friendship and musical collaboration. Following the release of Ed’s nostalgic video for his = (Equals) single “The Joker and the Queen” last week, the “Shivers” singer has released a two-minute behind-the-scenes look at how the video was put together.
On day one of the shoot, director Emil Nava enthusiastically heads to the star’s trailers, as we watch him push in on a classroom scenario where we re-meet the major characters. The video’s stars and new love interests are the same kids that appeared in Sheeran and Swift’s first collab, “Everything Has Changed,” in 2013. The young actors have grown into even more frighteningly accurate doppelgängers as they represent college students ready to enter different colleges in the decade between the first tape and today, as they play elementary school kids in the first clip to emerging college freshmen presently.
Nava fills the screen with candid views of the actors from various perspectives, and also a sequence in which he busts into their Star Wagon to introduce himself to Jack Lewis and Ave Ames, with the former demonstrating his exceptional juggling talents between takes.
Nava shoots a party scene on day two, and we get to watch some of the sausage being prepared as the crew tries to make it a big affair with confetti cannons and hand-drawn signs telling the cast “you’re doing great.” Nava also spends some time with Lewis, mocking him about a burrito order and gives him advice on how to look despondent while staring out a car window.
