The Oscar-winning actress also explains to ET how she convinced the superstar to let her use the song in the zombie comedy.
Taylor Swift makes an unexpected cameo in Hulu’s zombie comedy, Little Monsters, starring Lupita Nyong’o. The Oscar-winning actress covers the singer’s hit song, “Shake It Off,” in the film -- and ET has an exclusive clip of her performance.
Written and directed by Abe Forsythe, Little Monsters tells the story of a washed-up musician, Dave (Alexander England), who volunteers to chaperone his nephew’s kindergarten field trip after he falls for their teacher, Miss Caroline (Nyong’o). The trip quickly gets complicated by the presence of child entertainer and TV personality Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad), and the sudden zombie outbreak that sends all the park visitors into a panic.
In the clip from the Australian horror flick, Miss Caroline attempts to keep her students occupied with a ukulele-led rendition of “Shake It Off.” The cute sing-along takes a turn, however, when Dave finds himself brushing off his guitar chops for the kids. Sadly, it doesn’t land quite as well as Swift.
While the superstar’s music has appeared in a number of films, Nyong’o tells ET that she wrote to Swift personally to share her admiration and ask for permission to use the song in the film.
“I didn’t hear from her personally, but when I heard we got the song, I knew she heard me and I was just so grateful,” Nyong'o reveals, before she turned to the ET cameras to express her gratitude directly to the singer: “Taylor Swift, thank you so, so, so much. I hope you see the movie and I hope you feel that I took care of your song.”
After making a splash at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the film joins Hulu’s October slate of creepy content and its second annual Huluween film fest. The holiday-themed hub features a massive selection of popular Halloween TV episodes and movies as well as the return of original series Castle Rock, Light as a Feather and Into the Dark, and the highly anticipated premieres of Little Monsters and Wounds.
Little Monsters is in theaters for one day only on Tuesday, Oct. 8 before debuting exclusively on the streaming platform on Friday, Oct. 11.
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