The Curious and Contentious Case of Timothée Chalamet

Oh, how the Marty mighty has fallen! Last Sunday night, after months of relentless campaigning, Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar bid crashed and burned at the steps of the Dolby Theatre. He who had been perceived as the frontrunner in the Best Actor category for his buzzy performance in Marty Supreme lost out to Sinners’ Michael B. Jordan. His defeats at the British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) and the Actor Awards, as it turns out, foreshadowed a difficult road ahead.

But where did it all go wrong? The 31-year-old came out of the gate running after securing the wins at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards. Before we delve deeper into the matter, let’s start by acknowledging that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has had a long history of ‘slap the stud syndrome’. Young male actors are often overlooked in preference to their veteran counterparts. Case in point: Leonardo DiCaprio.

Chalamet himself has encountered the same problem. His luminous performance in Call Me By Your Name was shunted aside in favour of Gary Oldman’s ham-filled turn in Darkest Hour in 2018. That said, the same rule would’ve applied to the 39-year-old Jordan, whose action star status often undermines him. But it didn’t. The reason is obvious: he wasn’t the one mounting an over-inflated campaign that can only be described as off-putting.

ONE BLURTING AFTER ANOTHER

Sure, Jordan had the advantage of being the face of an across-the-board contender, but the same argument could be made for Chalamet. Marty Supreme could’ve been just as strong—it did clear the first stage of the voting phase with three Actor Awards, eleven Baftas, and nine Academy Awards nominations—if it wasn’t for his aggressive canvassing. But life imitates art. He inherited the worst quality of Marty Mauser: self-destructive.

Chalamet has always been an eloquent speaker. From flirting with the fans en français to peppering his press junkets with philosophical quotes, he wears that brooding heartthrob persona like second skin. But this image began to split at the seams when his insights started to come across as more performative than profound, revealing a pseudo-intellectual streak. The first hint came last year when he stepped back into awards conversations.

“This was five years of my life. I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr Bob Dylan,” said the A Complete Unknown star in his acceptance speech at the Sag Awards (Actor Awards) last year. “I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats,” he continued. This brash, vainglorious declaration was met with mixed reactions.

UNSENTIMENTAL VALUE

Chalamet’s ambition, if taken at face value, is commendable. He is an artist continuously honing his craft—what’s so wrong with that? But as the recently concluded awards cycle had shown us, the actor seeks a specific validation, and he wasn’t shy to say it ad nauseam. He even alluded to his winning the Oscar in an interview last December. It’s the kind of self-promotion that would put Melissa Leo to shame.

In another feature, Chalamet treated us to a one-man highlight reel of his own greatness. “It’s been like seven, eight years that I feel like I’ve been handing in really, really committed top-of-the-line performances,” he said. It’s a soundbite so ludicrous that even Kirsten Dunst couldn’t help but poke fun at it. That’s not counting all the marketing stunts he did for Marty Supreme, from posing atop Las Vegas’ Sphere to ‘leaking’ a video call with his publicists.

To be fair, the movie did carry a hefty price tag of USD70 million, making it the most expensive production in A24’s history. So it goes without saying that recouping that money back was imperative. Chalamet’s press tour, to his credit, contributed to the film raking in nearly USD180 million in global box office. While his statements might have turned his peers off, they did little to deter the general audience from flocking to the theatres.

THE HATE TRAIN

All of his remarks, grating as they were, were limited in scope to the individual making them. That is, until his town hall meeting with Matthew McConaughey started making the rounds. “I don’t want to work in ballet, opera, or similar fields, where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive,’ even though no one cares about it anymore,” he said. This misguided observation expectedly drew criticisms from the performing art communities.

From Steven Spielberg and Andrea Bocelli to Chalamet’s own former principal at New York’s LaGuardia High School, the creatives had the same resounding message: punching down on other art forms, especially when theatrical experience itself is threatened by streaming services, is in extremely poor taste. Chalamet, whose grandmother, mother, and sister danced with the New York City Ballet, should’ve known better.

Chalamet’s fall from grace wasn’t just algorithm-fed repetition—it’s a ripple spreading across different spaces of thought. At the Oscars ceremony, the actor became the source of snide jokes and sharp-shooting speeches. From Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue to Live Action Short Film winner Alexandre Singh’s victory address to Josh Groban and Misty Copeland’s performances, Chalamet spent the evening taking hits from every direction.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

It is never easy on the conscience to see a person dogpiled for—relative to everything that’s happening in the world today—their asinine statements. Cancel culture is only fun for those who contribute to the discourse in bad faith. That said, seeing an influential male celebrity face the consequences of his own actions does feel like a balance restored. Chalamet’s female counterparts have dealt with worse treatment for a lot less.

Rachel Zegler was raked over the coals in a specific corner of the internet after pointing out that she did not receive an invite to the 2022 Oscars despite leading Best Picture nominee West Side Story. Jennifer Lawrence was chewed up and spat back out when the public decided her relatable persona was no longer charming. Brie Larson’s career has yet to recover after her advocacy for diversity rubbed film dudebros the wrong way.

So yes, while we don’t derive pleasure from his downfall, taking him to task is a necessary evil. It sets a precedent for others. But whether or not Chalamet will turn over a new leaf is anybody’s guess. With Dune: Part Three hitting the theatres this December, and considering the trajectories of the Denis Villeneuve-led franchise—15 Oscar nominations between the first two films—Chalamet is all but guaranteed to return to the Dolby Theatre.