Actor Timothee Chalamet taken to task over opera, ballet dig

NEW YORK – Oscar nominee Timothee Chalamet is the front runner to take home the Best Actor award for sports drama Marty Supreme (2025), but the 30-year-old definitely has not won fans in the ballet and opera worlds.

In a town hall discussion late in February with Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey hosted by CNN and Variety, Chalamet was discussing the future of movie theatres and whether the advent of streaming will spell doom for cinemas.

“If people want to see it – like Barbie, like Oppenheimer – they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it,” Chalamet said of the 2023 films.

“And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this any more.’ All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” he added, to laughs from the audience. “I just took shots for no reason.”

The world’s opera and ballet companies were not entertained.

In the French-American actor’s native New York, the Metropolitan Opera posted a backstage video with his quote plastered across it and the caption: “This one’s for you, @tchalamet...”

The Paris Opera riffed on Marty Supreme, in which Chalamet plays a 1950s table tennis player with big dreams.

“Plot twist, there is ping-pong in opera too,” it said on Instagram, with a video clip from the opera Nixon In China, now playing in the French capital.

The Vienna State Opera gave a shout-out to Chalamet: “Consider this your personal invitation to Vienna. Our stage is waiting.”

And in London, the English National Ballet posted on March 6: “Dear any celebs that believe no one cares about ballet or opera... We’re happy to report that ballet is not only alive and well, but also thriving.” AFP