{"id":371602,"date":"2026-03-06T21:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/371602\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T21:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:13:11","slug":"timothee-chalamet-under-fire-for-ballet-and-opera-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/371602\/","title":{"rendered":"Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet Under Fire For Ballet And Opera Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet<\/a> may be one of Hollywood\u2019s most sought-after young actors, but his recent thoughts on other realms of the performing arts aren\u2019t likely to win him new fans. <\/p>\n

Last week, Chalamet dropped by the University of Texas at Austin to be interviewed by his \u201cInterstellar\u201d co-star, Matthew McConaughey, for a Variety & CNN town hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the chat, the pair spoke candidly about a number of hot-button topics in the film industry. When the discussion turned to movie studios\u2019 push<\/a> to get \u201ctheir biggest action set pieces up front\u201d in order to compete with audiences\u2019 shrinking attention spans, Chalamet offered an eyebrow-raising take. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome people do want to be entertained and quickly,\u201d he said, after referring to Netflix<\/a>\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein<\/a>\u201d as a slower-paced film that was successful. \u201cI admire people, and I\u2019ve done it myself, who go on a talk show and say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve got to keep movie theaters alive, we\u2019ve gotta keep this genre alive,\u2019 and another part of me feels like if people want to see it \u2015 like \u2018Barbie<\/a>,\u2019 like \u2018Oppenheimer<\/a>\u2019 \u2015 they\u2019re going to go see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be working in ballet or opera or things where it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.\u2019 All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n

After the crowd responded with laughter, Chalamet quipped, \u201cI just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason.\u201d <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long, however, before a host of ballet and opera performers began calling out Chalamet and expressing their disappointment in his disparaging views on their art forms. <\/p>\n

Amar Smalls, a professional ballet dancer and choreographer, acknowledged the inaccessibility of ballet and opera for many audiences in an Instagram video<\/a> Thursday, but said Chalamet was wrong to draw parallels between them to his experience in film. <\/p>\n

\u201cTickets for the movies that Timoth\u00e9e is in are cheap compared to \u2018Porgy and Bess\u2019 and \u2018Swan Lake,\u2018\u201d he said in part, later adding: \u201cAI can\u2019t go onstage and give a beautiful performance like \u2018Swan Lake.\u2019 They could definitely do \u2018Marty Supreme,\u2019 though.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Timoth\u00e9eTimoth\u00e9e Chalamet has led a divisive awards season campaign for his Oscar-nominated performance in “Marty Supreme.” <\/p>\n

Amy Sussman via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Opera singer and voiceover artist Eugenia Forteza<\/a> felt similarly. \u201cLive theatre, opera, ballet could always use the support of artists with such reach,\u201d she wrote in a comment on Variety\u2019s Instagram post<\/a> about the video. \u201cChoosing to further continue the misconception that these artforms are dead is irresponsible, disrespectful and ignorant, especially from someone who had the privilege to attend an arts high school right next to Lincoln Center.\u201d <\/p>\n

And Kameron Saunders<\/a>, a ballet choreographer who was also one of Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras Tour dancers<\/a>, summed it up even more succinctly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYikes,\u201d he wrote on Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Chalamet, who many consider<\/a> to be the frontrunner to win the Oscar<\/a> for Best Actor for his performance in \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d has yet to respond to the criticism. <\/p>\n

His comments, however, seem in line with his divisive awards<\/a> season campaign<\/a>, in which he\u2019s deliberately embodied the smugness of his \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d character while referencing meme culture and streetwear hype. <\/p>\n