Controversial they may have been, but Timothée Chalamet comments on ballet and opera might have done some good.
In a new interview with The Times, the chief of London’s flagship opera house has thanked the Hollywood actor for boosting ticket sales amid his outrage-sparking remark that “no one cares” about the art forms anymore.
Alex Beard, of the Royal Ballet and Opera, said public reaction to the Marty Supreme star’s comments was “fantastic.”
“I thought it important that we didn’t issue a kind of hoity-toity response to Chalamet,” said Beard. “We simply said ‘Take a look at what we’re doing, mate’ — for instance, the fact that the largest portion of our audience by age is 20 to 30-year-olds.”
“And you know what? Our post got two-and-a-half million engagements and half a million shares, just on Instagram. And our ticket sales got an immediate boost. So cheers, Timmy!”
Only this week, the Oscar nominee got some much-needed support from Luca Guadagnino, who spoke to Italian daily La Stampa ahead of the premiere of his adaptation of John Adams’ 1991 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, in Florence.
The filmmaker, whose age-gap romance Call Me by Your Name made Chalamet a global star and earned him his first Academy Award nomination, conceded that the 30-year-old “could have spared himself” the public ire. Translated from Italian, he told La Stampa: “I am not on social media and don’t understand how one [single] comment can become a planetary polemic… Maybe Timothée could have spared himself. But he’s young, smart, sensitive, and he fears that cinema could become marginal. And that’s exactly why every form of imagination should be nurtured. We must unite the arts, not separate them.”
Chalamet’s bold awards campaign took a nose-dive in early March, unhelped by his opera-ballet comments: “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore,’” he said in a live conversation with Matthew McConaughey for Variety and CNN. “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there … I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I’m taking shots for no reason.”
The Royal Ballet and Opera did, in fact, respond at the time. A spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter: “Ballet and opera have never existed in isolation — they have continually informed, inspired, and elevated other art forms. Their influence can be felt across theatre, film, contemporary music, fashion, and beyond. For centuries, these disciplines have shaped the way artists create and audiences experience culture, and today millions of people around the world continue to enjoy and engage with them.”
www.hollywoodreporter.com
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