Selfies with Bill Hader, a Timothée Chalamet Conspiracy Theory and Seat Next to Studio Power Players: Inside Taylor Swift’s Night at Golden Globes

Taylor Swift may have worn a glittering green gown by Gucci, but she found herself in a golden era on Sunday, if only for a few hours, and what a time it was.

The superstar singer touched down at the Beverly Hilton for the 81st Golden Globes to honor a nomination in the new cinematic and box office achievement category for reinventing the rollout of concert documentaries (and smashing records in the process) courtesy of AMC’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. Though she went home empty-handed — the inaugural trophy went to Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and the pink parade from Barbie, which earned north of a billion dollars and became a cultural phenomenon — Swift snagged the lion’s share of attention in a room filled with A-listers. (AMC also used the occasion to announce that the doc passed Michael Jackson’s This Is It to become the top-grossing concert doc of all time.)

In the days leading up to the show, the rumor mill hit overdrive amid questions about if and when she Swift would show up, and who might be on her arm. Swift’s NFL beau, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, happened to be in Los Angeles on Sunday for his team’s matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Fittingly, the game ended in nail-biting fashion with the Chiefs besting the home team 13-12. Not long after the victory, Swift allowed the crush of media and photographers to exhale by arriving arm-in-arm with an entourage that included close friend Keleigh Teller (wife of pal Miles Teller), publicist Tree Paine and a slew of bodyguards but no Kelce. (She also quickly made it on many best-dressed lists, including this one from The Hollywood Reporter.)

By showtime on CBS and Paramount+, Swift made it to her table where she took a seat next to Teller and Searchlight Pictures presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield. The expert marketer and queen of dropping clues for her global fanbase, the decision to take a seat next to top execs from Searchlight (a company that won a top prize for Poor Things) can be taken as a sign of how serious she is about her Hollywood ambitions. As announced in December 2022, Swift partnered with Searchlight to make her feature directorial debut for the studio on an original project based on her own script.

She should have no casting issues as Swift has many actor pals, evidenced by how she worked the room on Sunday. Swift shared a moment that included selfies and a warm embrace with Golden Globe nominee and Barry star Bill Hader. At another point, she was photographed chatting with Priscilla nominee Cailee Spaeny.

Though she didn’t make it to the stage, Swift’s name was mentioned from the microphone by Jo Koy. The host said, “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” The camera cut to Swift whose only response, aside from remaining stone-faced, was a casual sip of Moet & Chandon.