Timothée Chalamet’s unconventional press tours, starting with Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” and continuing to this year’s buzzy “Marty Supreme,” have become a hot topic of internet discourse — and the Oscar-nominated actor wants you to know that it’s not a gimmick.
During a packed Q&A at London’s Prince Charles Cinema on Sunday, Chalamet — in conversation with “Love Actually” filmmaker Richard Curtis — went deep on why he doesn’t consider moves like turning the Las Vegas sphere into a ping-pong ball or staging an unhinged Zoom meeting as strictly PR.
“Here’s the thing — this risks killing any mystery around it, but I really don’t look at it as promotion or marketing. I see myself as an artist expanding,” Chalamet said. “And certainly the Zoom had a little bit of satire to it, but the initial video in the glass box, those [ping-pong ball] heads, I feel like I’m expressing myself. You know, a lot of people want to be told what to say, how to say it and where to stand — I’m talking on the acting front. Also, people don’t want to misstep. I feel like I’ve got the keys, I’ve got the right attitude, I’ve got the juice.”
The 30-year-old reflected on how his press tour style started with “A Complete Unknown,” which saw him lip-sync to “Visions of Johanna” on a New York City pier and perform some Dylan deep cuts on “Saturday Night Live.” During the Q&A, Chalamet revealed that pulling double-duty on “SNL” actually took some convincing.
“I spent over six figures out of my pocket to do the ‘SNL’ performance,” Chalamet said. “Lorne Michaels said, ‘Hey, do you want to host “SNL”?’ I said, ‘Yeah, can I do the music?’ He’s like, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Alright, I’m not doing it.’ He said, ‘OK, do the music.’ But I refused to take no for an answer.”
He continued: “This is the new way of doing stuff. I’m trying to reach audiences, you know. I don’t want to be in the pretentious in-crowd. ‘Marty Supreme’ in America had the least frequent moviegoing audience this year — people that weren’t going to see everything. That’s my favorite feedback on the movie. So the most pretentious answer I could give you, which I actually honestly feel, is that it’s not marketing or promotion. That sounds like a gimmick, and this is not a gimmick. This is coming from my heart and my soul.”
Chalamet has a similar philosophy when it comes to preparing for roles. “I feel like Method energy, that’s kind of my thing,” he said. “So that just means being in the tone of the film … I think anything too calculated — some actors are like that, that’s not really my style.”
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Chalamet is about to see if his efforts for “Marty Supreme” will pay off, as he’s once again up for a best actor Oscar after losing the trophy last year to Adrien Brody for “The Brutalist.” When asked bluntly by Curtis if he wants the Oscar, Chalamet blushed and stuttered, choosing his words carefully.
“Listen, yes. But I want to give you context for that, because sometimes I feel like I’ve been misinterpreted in my quest,” Chalamet said. “All these award things, they supplement the movie. I’m not going to turn this into a monologue about the crisis of theaters and stuff, but when you go to an awards show, everyone’s participating in an advertisement for each other — in the best sense of the word, I’m not saying that in a malicious way. I’m supporting ‘Hamnet’ and ‘One Battle After Another’ the way anyone in those movies is supporting ‘Marty Supreme.’ So anything else, yes, it helps to feed into the narrative … everyone’s pursuing it, you know?”
Chalamet quickly admitted that he “didn’t explain myself well there,” adding: “I don’t want it to be misinterpreted that the world is in the condition it’s in and I’m going to bed like, ‘Fuck man, I need that [Oscar].’ You know, I’m living on planet Earth.”
On a lighter note, Curtis asked Chalamet a series of rapid-fire questions that got the audience and Chalamet giggling, including if the actor — who is currently dating Kylie Jenner — will ever get married.
“Wow, that’s so personal,” Chalamet answered, stalling. “Yeah, no — you’re going to get me in trouble, man.”
Curtis ended the conversation by asking Chalamet what he wants to be remembered for and what he thinks his purpose is, something that was top-of-mind for Marty in the film. “These days, it’s paying it forward,” Chalamet answered.
“When you’re young, you need things to believe in — narratives to believe in, stories to believe in. Particularly if you grew up like Marty, particularly if you grew up like me, you believe in figures that make you dream,” he sad. “Virgil Abloh, the late fashion designer, he had a great quote: He said he was living his 17-year-old dream, or something to that extent. I feel like right now I’m in a position where I’m doing it.”
He concluded: “That’s why I try to own it. I’m not shying away from it, I’m not being fake humble where I don’t feel it. And equally, I’m leaving it behind for someone that I hope I’m inspiring. So if they’ve got a fucked up life, they can go, ‘Man, but he’s fucking doing it. And I want to do it like that.’”
From Variety US