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Move over Jackson and Jordan, Baltimore-born actor and perennial Orioles fan Josh Charles is rooting for another team.
Team Taytay. He’s flown the coop and landed right in the middle of a flock of Swifties.
But don’t worry, boys, it’s probably only a short-term fling. Two weeks or so, based on Charles’ guest starring role in Taylor Swift’s new music video for “Fortnight,” her latest No. 1 hit.
“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,” Charles wrote in an Instagram post Friday.
Late last week, the pop superstar dropped her new album “The Tortured Poets Department,” a highly anticipated 11th studio recording that she announced at the Grammys in February.
Within 24 hours of its release, Swift debuted a music video for her first single from the album — a collaboration with rap artist Post Malone called “Fortnight.”
In the cinematic black and white video, Swift is in a research lab, where she is rescued by Malone from experiments performed by two scientists portrayed by Charles and actor Ethan Hawke, both of whom starred in “Dead Poets Society,” an Oscar-nominated film from 1989 — the year Swift was born and the title of one of her albums. (Her dedicated fans — called Swifties — love these little connections, known as Easter eggs.)
“Dead Poets Society” stars the late comedic actor Robin Williams as a charismatic teacher who uses poetry to distill life lessons to students at an all-boys prep school.
Charles grew up in Baltimore and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. He filmed the movie when he was just a teenager.
Swift, who is obviously fond of poetry — Ancestry.com has said it traced her genealogy and found links to famed poet Emily Dickinson — is a fan of the film and its stars.
“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),” Swift said in an Instagram post.
Charles said he kept his role in the Swift music video secret. Even his family didn’t know.
“We were treated with such class by Taylor and her crew from beginning to end. What I’ll remember most was the laughter, there was a lot of it. Like we were 17 all over again. #TSTTPD,” Charles said, sharing a picture on social media of himself and Hawke at an airport traveling to the video shoot.
Charles, a longtime Baltimore sports fan who has been spotted upon occasion wearing an Orioles home run chain at Camden Yards, was fired up to receive some Swift swag after his video performance.
The singer sent him (and some select others like NFL fashion designer and Towson grad Kristin Juszczyk) a beige hoodie and sweatpants with the Tortured Poets Department logo.
Charles modeled the outfit on social media, topping it off with the ultimate fanboy accessory: an Orioles baseball cap.
It seems the bromance is still strong.
A post shared by Josh Charles (@mrjoshcharles)
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