Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | March 6, 2026
Marty Supreme star Timothée Chalamet is still, on paper, the frontrunner for Best Actor at this year’s Oscars. But his path to gold, which many predicted would be a sure-fire guarantee several weeks ago, now has another major contender in the former of Michael B. Jordan. We have a real race on our hands. So, of course, it’s time for the Timmy backlash.
Last month, Chalamet took part in a conversation at the University of Texas with Matthew McConaughey, which was released by Variety and CNN. They talked about working together on Interstellar, their respective careers, and the perennial ‘keep cinemas alive’ conversation. Speaking about the need to keep the cinematic experience alive, Chalamet said: “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 anymore.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.” He then quipped, “I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason.”
Oh Timmy. This is such pipsqueak behaviour. What did ballet ever do to you?
This whole interview happened last week, but it’s broken containment now because Chalamet has real competition for Best Actor and hey, people love to stir up drama. It’s why they’re getting mad at Jessie Buckley for not liking cats. But it going viral also meant that Timmy now has literal opera and ballet people ragging on him, which is admittedly very entertaining.
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I do love the image of Timmy being chased out of town by a roving band of opera singers. It’s very Homer Simpson-esque.
Okay, let’s try and be fair here. I think Chalamet was trying to make a point about how many artforms become seen as obsolete as time passes, and in our current society, opera and ballet are not considered mainstream or for all audiences. Yes, both are wonderful and important forms that should be treasured and made accessible to everyone, but do you know how much it costs to see an opera? I’ve wanted to see one in-person for years now but keep balking at the price for even the ‘cheap’ seats. In most conversations, I bet you’d hear a lot of people echoing Chalamet’s line, which I don’t think is his actual perspective.
But there’s obviously a degree of snideness to Chalamet’s response, right? ‘I just lost 14 cents in viewership’ is intended as a dig. It’s not an especially diplomatic line, but it’s also something a 29 year old who hasn’t been hugely media trained would say. And for a long time, that lack of polish was what people liked about Chalamet. They like his approachability and enthusiasm. But that also makes it easy for him to shove his foot into his mouth. And accidentally taking shots at a group of artists who are fighting cuts, political takeover, and the infringement of AI is just not it.
Awards season narratives are exhausting. You can go from hero to zero in a flash through no fault of your own. Just check out how so many people are eager to paint Jessie Buckley as a Best Actress villain because she’s the frontrunner. With Chalamet, his youth and candour about his ambition to be one of the greats has some people dismissing him as arrogant, or desperate to win ‘before his time.’ I don’t usually buy into arguments like that because they’re typically online fare that most AMPAS voters have no awareness of. The Academy likes Chalamet and a win for Marty Supreme would not be unearned or surprising.
I’ve already seen people claim this quote will sink Chalamet’s chances of a win (and others still trying to find ways to blame Kylie Jenner for it — dudes, she wasn’t there! Also, sexism!) Nah. If he doesn’t win, it’ll be because Sinners is beloved and there’s still a bias over giving Best Actor to men under the age of 45. Being a bit tactless in an interview is not going to be a deciding factor more than any other whim.
But he should totally go to more operas. They’re a blast. Let’s just hope the Met will let him in the door now.
