Tom Cruise Says Taylor Swift Was ‘Schooling Me on Football’ at Chiefs Game, Calls Her a ‘Brilliant Musician and Director’

Tom Cruise and Taylor Swift made headlines on Monday when they sat next to each other at the Kansas City Chiefs’ first game of the season. But what were the two megastars talking about?

“She was schooling me on football. For real,” Cruise revealed to Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on “The Tonight Show” on Thursday. But that wasn’t the first time Cruise and Swift have had a meeting of the minds — he was spotted at her Eras Tour in London in 2024, and when the pop star married Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in July, Cruise was in attendance.

“First of all, she’s a genius. I’ve been following her since she was a kid,” Cruise said of Swift. “Everybody there, all their friends — they’re a beautiful couple and magical in their own right.”

And Swift has real ball knowledge. “Oh, she knows her stuff,” Cruise continued, adding that the singer “knew nothing about football when she met Travis.”

Other than Swift coaching him through the game, Cruise said they “talked about music and movies.”

“She’s funny, she’s got such a great sense of humor,” he said. “A brilliant writer also, by the way. A brilliant musician and director — very skilled.”

Swift has directed many of her own music videos over the years, and delved further into filmmaking with 2021’s “All Too Well: The Short Film,” starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien. In late 2022, it was announced that she would be making her feature directorial debut for Searchlight Pictures, though her record-breaking Eras Tour that began the next year (and extended through December 2024) seems to have delayed this.

Elsewhere in his interview with Fallon, Cruise was asked about rumors that his new film “Digger,” directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, was actually a musical.

“No, but I think it’s a very good idea,” he laughed. “I think we should do ‘Digger’ the musical. Digger down!” Cruise and Fallon then broke out into song and dance in their seats.

Cruise’s press tour for “Digger” will also include an appearance on Travis and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, releasing on Friday.