This year’s awards season has been unlike any other… down to a bizarre controversy around series of viral comments from Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet. While promoting his performance in Marty Supreme during A CNN & Variety Town Hall Event earlier this year, Chalamet expressed worry that the theatrical moviegoing experience might go the way of “ballet or opera”, where it is up to the artists to “keep this thing alive” even though “no one cares.”
Chalamet’s comments have inspired a slew of discourse — and more and more famous faces continue to weigh in. French actress Juliette Binoche, who has herself won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in The English Patient, addressed the ordeal during a Q&A session at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival. At first, Binoche joked that: “I thought cinema was a dying art.”
“It doesn’t matter what he’s saying,” Binoche went on to add. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t make it big. What nourishes your heart and soul is what is important. You can watch a lot of films that are empty and make you dry at the end. What counts is what is nourishing your soul and life.”
Ballet dancer and actress Misty Copeland, whose own larger-than-life story was used in the marketing campaign of Marty Supreme, also addressed the backlash around Chalamet at a panel for Aveeno.
“First I have to say that it’s very interesting that he invited me to be a part of promoting ‘Marty Supreme’ with respect to my art form,” Copeland began. “I think that it’s important that we acknowledge that, yes, this is an art form that’s not ‘popular’ and a part of pop culture as movies are, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have enduring relevance in culture.”
Copeland also argued that there’s “a reason that the opera and ballet have been around for over 400 years,” adding that “[Chalamet] wouldn’t be an actor and have the opportunities he has as a movie star if it weren’t for opera and ballet and their relevance in that medium. So all of these mediums have a space and we shouldn’t be comparing them.”
The Controversy Continues…
With the Academy Awards right around the corner, the fervor around Chalamet’s comments surely isn’t going to die down anytime soon. The ordeal has even made its way to Jeopardy!, with the iconic quiz show poking fun at Chalamet by sharing a clip from their Second Chance tournament final from this past January… which literally featured a “Ballet & Opera” category.
A few staples in the ballet and opera community have also had tongue-in-cheek responses to the whole ordeal, with London’s Royal Ballet and Opera posting a video of their artists at work. The caption literally called on Chalamet to visit, saying: “Every night at the Royal Opera House, thousands of people gather for ballet and opera. For the music. For the storytelling. For the sheer magic of live performance. If you’d like to reconsider, [Timothée Chalamet], our doors are open.”
The Seattle Opera had a different approach to the controversy… offering discounted tickets to their production of Carmen for anyone using the promo code “Timothée.”
(featured image: A24)
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