UPDATE: For some reason, the interview has been deleted from Youtube after Chalamet's quotes went viral, though it can be seen on X. Did Timmy’s team ask for it to be taken down?
EARLIER: Timothée Chalamet, 30, seems to be rubbing some the wrong way. The amount of showboating he’s done while promoting “Marty Supreme” is akin to Kanye West’s rants about being the GOAT. Quite honestly? It’s entertaining stuff.
Wanting something and going after it relentlessly is far more impressive than standing back quietly. Ambition is something to strive for. Sure, you can also say that he should be a little more humble, but there’s nothing wrong with being forthright and blatantly honest—especially as an artist, and especially when you keep delivering strong work.
The latest Chalamet rant might be the best one; it had me chuckling at the sheer audacity it takes to say this. Here he is in an interview talking about his “Marty Supreme” performance and his overall career:
This is probably my best performance, you know, and it’s been like seven, eight years that I’ve been handing in really, really committed top-of-the-line performances. And it’s important to say it out loud because the discipline and the work ethic I’m bringing to these things — I don’t want people to take it for granted. I don’t want to take it for granted. This is really some top-level shit.
This “top-level shit,” which he says spans “seven or eight years,” probably starts with his work in “Call Me by Your Name”, and then, in order of release date, “Lady Bird”, “Beautiful Boy”, “The King”, “Little Women”, “The French Dispatch”, “Dune”, “Don’t Look Up”, “Bones and All”, “Wonka”, “Dune: Part Two”, “A Complete Unknown”, and “Marty Supreme”.
A few questionable movies there, but mostly strong work from him. I’m not complaining. Again, some might be irritated by the bravado, but I find it hilarious.
He is also correct that the work he does in “Marty Supreme” is the best of his career. He should win the Oscar for his performance, and he might very well. The kid is mesmerizing in the film, transforming a brash, irritating punk into high art.
Chalamet has become no stranger to coming up short at awards shows. From the Oscars to the Golden Globes to the BAFTAs, he’s lost more times than most actors will ever be nominated in their entire careers. Most recently, he missed out on the Best Actor Oscar for “A Complete Unknown”, though he did take home a SAG Award for the performance, and his speech—in which he stated his strive to become “one of the greats”—was misguidedly criticized by some.
With “Marty Supreme” on the horizon, there’s little doubt Chalamet will be back in the Oscar conversation soon. His ultimate goal—to win—is out in the open, but what’s most compelling is his drive to test himself as an artist. He’s focused not on playing it safe but on creating work that challenges him, and I love that.
Brady Corbet's “The Origin of the World,” his X-Rated epic about "Northern California’s economy" in the 1970s epic, has now started production in South Africa under the working title “SALT FLATS.”