Timothée Chalamet’s recent comments about ballet and opera have hurt his chances at winning an Oscar, but the dream would be long over if he were a woman, writes Yasmin Vince
Timothée Chalamet‘s dream of winning an Oscar seem to be over. This time two weeks ago, he seemed to one of the frontrunners for Best Actor. Now that might all be over, as in the final days of Oscar voting, he sparked major controversy by dissing the ballet and opera communities, leading many online to ask if his award dreams have been dashed. But if Timothée were a woman, I can almost guarantee this wouldn’t even be a question. The dream would have died ages ago.
The young star is nominated for the Best Actor award at this year’s Oscars for his role in Marty Supreme. In the film, he played ambitious ping pong player Marty Mauser. The actor appeared to be equally ambitious in his campaign for the award.
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In an interview with France Inter, he said he has a “unique talent” and claimed he worked “harder than almost anyone”. Speaking to the publication, he said: “I know it’s not normal to talk about yourself like this — but I knew I had a pretty unique talent. And I know that I work, honestly… I work harder than almost everyone I know.” This is just one of the many comments he’s made that have led some to view him as ‘arrogant’ – he’s also implied he will have an Oscar by this summer and that his work is “top level s***”.
This was off-putting to many, such as one fan who said: “He’s a great actor who I’m sure will win an Oscar one day and will deserve it but currently he’s displaying levels of delulu we’ve never seen before and it’s embarrassing to watch.” And yet, he remained one of he bookies’ favourites to bag the award. For everyone that said Timothée had blown it, there was someone else who said he was just embodying the spirit of Marty and that this was actually a brilliant marketing move.
More people seem to be anti-Chalamet since he told a town hall that he didn’t want to work in ballet or opera, industries he claimed “no one cares about anymore”. Since the comment, his odds of winning have dropped, articles with titles such as ‘How to lose an Oscar in 10 days’ and Saturday Night Live took a stab at the actor. I don’t think any of this would have happened if Timothée were a woman – he would have been discounted from the race the second he seemed anything other than humble.
Women who are ambitious and confident in the public sphere quickly become labelled as arrogant and over-hyped. Whatever you think of Taylor Swift, she was correct when she said that when men do something “it’s strategic” but when women do it “it’s calculated”.
There is no doubt in my mind that if a woman had so openly pushed for an award, she would be sealing her own fate. Just take Andrea Riseborough. A few years ago, when there was an open campaign to get Andrea a nomination for her role in To Leslie – which involved several actresses such as Kate Winslet and Helen Hunt advocating for her, as is allowed in the Academy rules.
The mere fact that Andrea had the guts to say she wanted an Oscar was enough for some to label her as aggressive. The resulting controversy was so strong that an investigation was launched into whether she should be stripped of her nomination. And yet, when Timothée openly pushes for an Oscar, he’s a marketing genius.
Maybe it’s this very phenomenon that has led the star to his latest controversy. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, Timothée’s bold and self-assured approach to his Oscar campaign could well end in a puddle of shattered hopes.
Timothée’s comment was: “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 added in what many have deemed a ‘sarcastic’ tone. “I’ve lost 14 cents in viewership there.”
While Timothée may have only “lost 14 cents in viewership”, his comment has the potential to do a lot more damage – especially to young girls. Ballet has long been a deeply feminine art form. Timothée’s world, cinema, is largely male-dominated. In 2022, it was found that 85% of films feature more men than women, while only 7% featured more women than men. Women made up only 34% of speaking roles and only 35% of major characters. Men are more likely to get work, male stories are more likely to be seen.
Meanwhile, the most famous ballets that are recreated over and over again are female-centred narratives such as Giselle, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. In a list of famous ballet dancers, names like Darcey Bussell, Anna Pavlova and Margot Fonteyn come up far more frequently than men. “Ballet is woman,” said George Balanchine.
I’m not saying ballet is perfect. Though I enjoyed dancing as a child, I cried for weeks and quit lessons after I was told I looked like a “gallumphing elephant” whilst the skinnier girls were often “elegant” and “graceful”. Balanchine by all accounts was a monster who controlled his dancers completely. I know many women who developed eating disorders because they were told by ballet instructors that their lunch was visible.
But that doesn’t change the fact that ballet highlights female success in a way that cinema doesn’t. As such, when actors like Timothée Chalamet say “no one cares” about the art form and laughs about it, young, impressionable girls might hear: “No one cares about art where women are at the forefront.”
Maybe that is affording Timothée too much power. He is just one man after all. No one has to listen to him. But people do. This is the age of parasocial relationships, where many young people view celebrities like Timothée and Taylor as their friends and take every word as gospel. It’s not unreasonable to think a 10 year old ballerina might go into school this week and be mocked because the other children’s favourite actor said ballet was something “no one cares about”. It’s not right, but it happens. Is an Oscar really worth that?
Timothée Chalamet’s representatives were contacted for comment.
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