"He's Irish!" How Domhnall Gleeson inspired Taylor Swift's new music video

Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson not only inspired Taylor Swift's new music video for her single "Opalite," but he also stars in it.

As if Gleeson on his own wasn't enough Irish influence, Cork native Cillian Murphy and Dublin native Graham Norton also feature in the "Opalite" music video that was released on Spotify Premium and Apple Music on Friday, February 6.

The unexpected collaboration was born out of Swift's appearance on Graham Norton's talk show back in October, when she was doing promotion for her latest album, "The Life of a Showgirl."

Gleeson and Murphy were also guests that night, as were actresses Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith, and musician Lewis Capaldi.

On social media on Friday, Swift explained how the idea for her new music video "crash landed into my imagination" thanks to an off-the-cuff remark from Gleeson.

"When we were all talking during the broadcast, Domhnall made a light-hearted joke about wanting to be in one of my music videos," Swift wrote in a message to her hundreds of millions of followers.

"He’s Irish! He was joking!" she continued.

"Except that in that moment during the interview, I was instantly struck with an *idea*.

"And so a week later, he received an email script I’d written for the 'Opalite' video, where he was playing the starring role.

"I had this thought that it would be wild if all of our fellow guests on the Graham Norton show that night, including Graham himself, could be a part of it too. Like a school group project but for adults and it isn’t mandatory.

"To my delight, everyone from the show made the effort to time travel back to the 90’s with us and help with this video."

The end of Swift's nearly six-minute video includes the bit from the Graham Norton Show when inspiration struck the pop star. The conversation surrounded Gleeson's starring role in "The Paper," an offshoot of "The Office," with both Swift and Murphy praising Gleeson's performance.

On Friday, Swift shared some behind-the-scenes snaps from her "Opalite" music video: