Timothée Chalamet criticizes ballet, calling it a ‘dying art form’
Timothée Chalamet is facing backlash after his response to Misty Copeland resurfaced his comments about ballet and opera being a declining art form.
Steven Spielberg stepped into Timothée Chalamet’s discourse.
In an on-stage interview at SXSW on March 13, the “Jaws” director subtly referenced the heat the “Marty Supreme” actor has been receiving from the classical performing arts community lately.
Chalamet is under scrutiny for his comments. In a CNN and Variety town hall posted on February 24th.. “I don’t want to do ballet or opera or something like, ‘Hey, no one cares about this anymore, let’s keep this thing going,'” the Oscar-nominated actor said when discussing Hollywood norms and the expectation that movie actors champion the movie theater business.
The filmmakers of E.T. had this to say about the importance of preserving the moviegoing experience: It’s “about community and communication and getting along with each other, and that’s what happens in movie theaters, not sitting in your living room and watching what’s on the screen on your TV.”
“Netflix is a great company to work with, but the real experience comes when we can impact our community and come together in weird, dark spaces,” he told Ringer journalist Sean Fennessy. “It happens in movies. It happens in concerts. It happens in ballet and opera! And we want that to last.”
The panel discussion was held at the Hilton Austin Hotel, where Spielberg promoted his new film, “Disclosure Day.”
The controversy surrounding Chalamet’s comments comes ahead of the Academy Awards on March 15, where he is one of five nominees for Best Actor for his performance in Marty Supreme.
Misty Copeland, Isabelle Leonard and other cast members speak out
Misty Copeland, one of America’s leading ballerinas, was one of those who took up Chalamet’s interest in ballet and opera. She noted that Chalamet invited her to promote “Marty Supreme” and said that although live art is not as “popular and part of pop culture” as movies, it still has “enduring relevance in culture.”
“I think there’s often a misconception that when something is popular, it’s more meaningful and more impactful,” Copeland says. “There’s a reason opera and ballet have been around for over 400 years, and I think when you have the opportunity to access and participate in something like that, it changes your life.”
In the comments section of Variety’s Instagram video in which she shared Chalamet’s controversial comments, opera singer Isabelle Leonard said she was shocked that Chalamet would consider himself an artist and yet express “a very taciturn and narrow-minded view of art.”
“Those words that cheaply criticize a fellow artist say more than anything else he could say in this interview. It shows a lot about his character. You don’t have to like all art, but only weak people and artists feel the need to actually cut down on the very art that inspires those interested in slowing down. That’s exactly what needs to happen,” wrote Leonard, who has a residency at Carnegie Hall and a three-time Grammy Award winner.
Berlin-based opera performer Dean Murphy refuted Chalamet’s claims that he had no interest in writing opera scripts. “Opera has been around since the 16th century and is still going strong today,” he writes. “I think that speaks volumes. What a shame that you don’t have respect for other art forms…which of course has a huge influence on movies…”
What does Timothée Chalamet say?
Chalamet did not mention the outrage from the ballet and opera worlds over his remarks at City Hall.
In a December interview with USA TODAY, Chalamet revealed that he grew up watching ballet, as his sister, mother and grandmother were all ballerinas, and that he once compared the dance form to table tennis. He made this comparison while preparing for his role in Marty Supreme, revealing that he studied real-life table tennis greats, including the late Marty Reisman, on whom the film is loosely based.
“The more I watched table tennis, the more I realized how ballet-like the movements were and how graceful they were,” he said. “I grew up watching a lot of ballet, and I feel like I incorporated my family’s dance background into this production more than ever before, even in productions like ‘Wonka,’ which I dance in.”
He continued, “It felt like a great combination, having the spirit of Mike Tyson and Michael Jordan, but the physicality of George Balanchine and Mikhail Baryshnikov.”
