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"'Todd' & 'Knox' from DEAD POETS SOCIETY are now PhDs in THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. It's quite an honor," Hawke wrote, while Charles called Swift a "genuine, kind, approachable, and just an all around stellar human being."
From the Dead Poets Society to The Tortured Poets Department -- Taylor Swift enlisted two stars from the 1989 Oscar-nominated film for her "Fortnight" music video: Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles.
On Friday evening, the pop star dropped the music video for "Fortnight," the first single off her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, which also features Post Malone.
At one point in the Easter egg-filled black-and-white video, below, Swift -- who sings about a love affair and its aftermath -- appears in a lab, where she is subjected to experiments by a group of scientists, including two played by Hawke and Charles.
Hawke and Charles, who starred as Todd Anderson and Knox Overstreet in the Dead Poets Society, respectively, appear to reprise their roles from the film as their characters in the music videos wear lab coats that read: Dr. Anderson and Dr. Overstreet.
Swift, 34, opened up about the inspiration behind her creative choices for the music video, including casting Hawke, 53, and Charles, 52.
"When I was writing the Fortnight music video, I wanted to show you the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music," she wrote on Instagram. "Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it."
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"@postmalone blew me away on set as our tortured tragic hero and I’m so grateful to him for everything he put into this collaboration. I’m still laughing from getting to work with the coolest guys on earth, @ethanhawke and @mrjoshcharles (tortured poets, meet your colleagues from down the hall, the dead poets)," she added. "I still can't believe I get to work with the unfathomably brilliant @rpstam on cinematography and my team of dream collaborators."
Both Hawke and Charles took to Instagram to celebrate the music video and spoke about working with Swift, whom they both praised.
"'Todd' & 'Knox' from DEAD POETS SOCIETY are now PhDs in THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. It's quite an honor. Thank you @taylorswift for the opportunity to be in the music video for your song FORTNIGHT feat. @postmalone. carpe diem!," Hawke wrote alongside shots from the video.
Meanwhile, in his post, Charles wrote, "I've admired Taylor for a long time, but meeting her in person took my fandom to a whole new level. Genuine, kind, approachable, and just an all around stellar human being - Not to mention a kick ass director to boot! #TSTTPD."
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The Tortured Poets Department, Swift's 11th studio album, was released on Thursday night at midnight/9 p.m. ET, and consists of 16 songs. Two hours later, Swift revealed TTPD is a "secret DOUBLE album," and dropped The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, with the complete album consisting of a whopping 31 songs in total.
"It's a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album," she shared on Instagram. ✌️ I'd written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here's the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn't mine anymore… it's all yours. 🤍."
From Joe Alwyn to Travis Kelce, see everyone Swift seemingly references in her new album, click here.
