Aimee Goldblum
In the run-up to the Oscars this Sunday, Timothee Chalamet is the name on everyone’s lips. Despite a neck-and-neck race between the Best Actor nominees, Chalamet seems to have drawn the short straw in the awards season discourse that plagues the media each year. Voting for the ceremony closed on the 5th, and the very next day, Chalamet was making headlines.
Criticised for his comments on ballet and opera, Timothee Chalamet has been subjected to the Twitter (now known as X) discourse mill that’s sole purpose is to reiterate, re-discuss, and generate engagement, whether that’s for monetary gain or simply to boost ego. While Chalamet is by no means the first victim of this cycle, the misinformation around his comments has been prolific. Although inappropriately articulated, his aim was not to disparage the value of art forms like ballet and opera. Much of Chalamet’s family made their careers in these industries, and he himself gifted ballerina Misty Copeland a Marty Supreme jacket for the film’s initial press run, which involved championing figures who ‘dreamt big’ in their respective fields.
By saying that ‘no one cares about opera’, he has brought the art form into a public consciousness not seen since about a century ago
While crudely worded, saying that “no one cares about ballet or opera” anymore is not necessarily an incorrect statement. These pastimes have long been considered elitist, and theatres and opera houses often open themselves up to charity to keep afloat. The reality is that young people aren’t attending these events anymore: they can’t. An average ballet or opera ticket far outprices your average cinema ticket. Chalamet, hoping that cinema as an institution does not fall to the same fate, especially within the context of the controversial negotiations between Warner Brothers, Netflix, and Paramount, is not in bad taste. Discussion around a lack of third spaces for young people is prolific – something which, around a century ago, was taken up by opera and ballet – and ensuring the survival of cinema is a key tenet of this.
Of course, many people will not have watched the interview that Chalamet has gone viral for. They will have watched someone summarising it, or even just a response to it. Major figures like Doja Cat and Jamie Lee Curtis have given their two cents. Likewise, ballet and opera houses around the world also cashed in on the controversy – ironic, considering Chalamet’s comments. In many ways, this interview is the best thing to happen to the industry in years. In another comical turn, this discourse has led to Twitter users promoting Black Swan in defence of ballet. I hate to break it to you, but that’s a film – the very thing Chalamet’s defending. By saying that ‘no one cares about opera’, he has brought the art form into the public consciousness that it has not seen since about a century ago. I’d still wager that most people publishing think-pieces on the subject either have not been to an opera or can’t even afford to do so.
Backlash against Chalamet has extended much past his one comment. An article published by The Daily Mail around the same time as Chalamet’s interview boasts the headline: ‘Timothee Chalamet’s private chef reveals he makes him three breakfasts on set and the pampered actor will eat one and disregard the rest.’ He’s painted as stuck-up and self-important, bolstering the negative attention around the star. However, reading just four lines into the article reveals the truth. Chalamet’s chef states that he would cook him three things, and Chalamet would offer him the other two. He’s hardly Marie Antoinette. In the wake of this, tweets claiming Chalamet is attention-seeking, manufacturing his big break, and miscast in his previous roles have spread like wildfire, with many mindlessly agreeing. I’d ask those to reconsider.
Chalamet is the youngest actor since Marlon Brando to receive three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. He has starred in multiple mega blockbusters, including highly critically acclaimed films such as Interstellar and Call Me By Your Name; his performance as Paul Atreides brings Villeneuve’s Dune to a space that David Lynch’s previous attempt could not. If Chalamet hasn’t made a name for himself yet, then no one has.
To base Chalamet’s entire image on this ‘soft boy’ aesthetic that he hasn’t portrayed for half a decade is disingenuous
Part of this backlash comes from a feeling of betrayal. Chalamet’s first taste of mega stardom came in the form of his starring role in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name, a film popular with the userbase of 2014 Tumblr, forever churning out aesthetic gifsets of soft, sensitive boys. He then appeared in Greta Gerwig’s Ladybird, followed by Little Women. In both, Chalamet is an angsty, fluffy-haired teen boy to rival 90s heartthrobs. His appearance in Bones and All, while slightly more grotesque, was equally charming to an audience that cherishes films like Perks of Being a Wallflower.
None of these fans are wrong, so to say. I am also a fan of Chalamet’s earlier works, and Guadagnino and Gerwig are excellent directors. However, to base Chalamet’s entire image on this ‘soft boy’ aesthetic that he hasn’t portrayed for half a decade is disingenuous. As his career develops, we’re seeing him in less “aesthetically pleasing” films like A Complete Unknown and now Marty Supreme.
If there’s one thing about Chalamet, it’s that he is going to take a press run to the next level. While he courted the opinion of French-cigarette-smoking tastemakers for his queerer, artsier works, he became completely immersed in the role of Bob Dylan for the A Complete Unknown promotion. Marty Mauser is an arsehole – that’s kind of what the whole film is about – so for the Marty Supreme press run, Chalamet runs his mouth. While his sentiments remain art-focused and authentic, his expression of these sentiments is a little bolshier than the Elio-esque image the public is used to. But we’ve all seen his high school statistics video, so can we really be surprised? People feel betrayed by his loud, boyish behaviour, and his relationship with Kylie Jenner, but Chalamet never meant to deceive with Call Me by Your Name. He’s just not Elio Perlman.
So, without a clear-cut villain, there’s little pre-Oscars ready-made discourse to serve the public
This train of bad press comes just a week before the Oscars ceremony and, as it’s looking increasingly likely that Chalamet will take home the trophy, it’s no surprise that all attention – good, and mostly bad – is on him. Best Actress shoo-in Jessie Buckley is facing similar disingenuous journalism with an interview about her attitude towards cats, garnering much criticism. Despite headlines claiming that Buckley forced her boyfriend to get rid of his cat out of sheer hatred, any deeper look will tell you that the cat had pooped on her bed. It’s still a little mean, but by no means does it deserve the cruelty everyone is making it out to be.
If you ask me, all this press is because we’re missing a true Oscars villain this year. With 2025’s awards bringing such a clear enemy in the form of Emilia Perez, the feeble ‘bad’ Best Picture nomination of F1 doesn’t really have the same weight – especially considering there’s not a single universe in which it wins. Emilia Perez was a great villain because it actually had a chance, and eventually swept up multiple awards. F1 will be lucky to win the technical accolades. So, without a clear-cut villain, there’s little pre-Oscars ready-made discourse to serve the public.
The Daily Mail has to manufacture its own, and with Chalamet pipped to win one of the tightest Best Actor races this decade, he’s a prime candidate to target. Jessie Buckley doesn’t get away unscathed, but because she’s so clearly going to win, there’s not much anyone can do. If Chalamet does win on Sunday, there’s going to be a lot more uproar – and therefore, unlimited think pieces to be written – defending the honour of Michael B. Jordan, Leonardo DiCaprio, and, if the Daily Mail is feeling a little alternative, Wagner Moura.
Aimee Goldblum
Featured image courtesy of Mirko Fabian via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article photos courtesy of @martysupreme via Instagram. No changes were made to these photos.
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