‘Priscilla’ Star Cailee Spaeny Was Starstruck Meeting Taylor Swift at Golden Globes

Priscilla star Cailee Spaeny was completely starstruck when she met Taylor Swift.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday, April 4, Spaeny recounted her experience attending the Golden Globes for the first time in January. “I could have said so many things, like ‘I loved your last album,’ or ‘Wow, the Eras Tour.’ But instead, I just said, ‘Your hair is so pretty. It’s such a nice color.’”

For her titular performance in Priscilla, Spaeny was nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama at the 81st annual Golden Globes. (Lily Gladstone won the award for her role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.)

“So surreal, I was on cloud nine,” Spaeny said of the Golden Globes. “I was so excited to be there. I got in and I brought my friend Ruby. I heard that I was sitting at the Poor Things table. I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is a winner’s table!’ It was a very big deal.” However, when she searched for her place card on the table, her name was nowhere to be found.

“Someone had moved my name tag, but it was totally fine. Then Taylor Swift ended up sitting at that table. So, the jury’s still out. I feel like maybe my name card got moved for Taylor,” Spaeny said, adding that she spent the rest of the night “staring at the back of [Swift’s] head.”

She noted, “I couldn’t believe that this was my life, I was just staring. She was so sparkly, so nice. She stood up for every winner.” By the end of the night, it was Spaeny’s friend who facilitated her meeting with Swift.

“My friend was like, ‘You’re not leaving here tonight without meeting Taylor.’ So, she went around and asked people and finally, at the end of the night, someone had gotten the word to [Taylor]. She stood up and said, ‘Oh my god, I loved you in the movie!’ It was so surreal.”

Spaeny starred as Priscilla Presley opposite Jacob Elordi as Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, which was released in October 2023. “She’s such a pro,” Spaeny said of Swift. “When you’re talking to her, you’re like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ Before I even got to it, she was like, ‘Can I take a photo with you?’”

The Pacific Rim: Uprising star noted that Swift also remembered her role in the HBO series Mare of Easttown, which surprised her. “Which is crazy because I only worked for like a week on that show, and half of that week I played a dead body,” Spaeny joked.

Spaeny is set to star next in A24’s Civil War alongside Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley Henderson.