‘Ineloquent and narrow-minded’: Timothée Chalamet faces backlash over his ‘no one cares’ about opera and ballet comment

A resurfaced interview featuring Timothée Chalamet has sparked criticism from members of the opera and ballet world, after comments he made about the art forms circulated widely on social media.The remarks come from a live conversation the actor had with Matthew McConaughey during a discussion hosted by Variety. In the interview, the two actors spoke about whether modern audiences still have the patience for slower-paced films and storytelling.Chalamet argued that younger viewers still do have the appetite for serious cinema, referencing Netflix’s Frankenstein. At the same time, he acknowledged that the way films are marketed can influence how audiences approach them.“It does take you having to wave a flag of, ‘Hey, this is a serious movie,’ or something, and some people do want to be entertained and quickly. I’m really right in the middle, Matthew,” Chalamet said. “I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, who go on a talk show and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to keep movie theaters alive, we’ve gotta keep this genre alive,’ and another part of me feels like if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.

”However, the conversation took a turn when the Academy Award nominee brought up live performing arts while discussing whether certain creative fields require active campaigns to stay relevant.“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 with a laugh. “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there … I just lost 14 cents in viewership.

I’m taking shots for no reason.”

That particular moment from the interview quickly began circulating online, drawing strong reactions from artists who work in opera and ballet.American opera singer Isabel Leonard was among those who responded publicly. In a comment about the clip, she wrote:“Honestly, I’m shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow-minded in his views about art while considering himself as [an] artist as I would only imagine one would as an actor.“To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say. Shows a lot about his character,” she continued. “You don’t have to like all art but only a weak person/artist feels the need to diminish in fact the VERY arts that would inspire those who are interested in slowing down, to do exactly that.”Canadian opera singer Deepa Johnny also weighed in, calling the remarks a “disappointing take.”“There is nothing more impressive than the magic of live theatre, ballet and opera. We should be trying to uplift these art forms, these artists and come together across disciplines to do that,” she wrote.Irish opera singer Seán Tester shared his response on Instagram, arguing that Chalamet’s comments reflected a misunderstanding about the cultural value of the art forms.“They are not outdated art forms. They are living ones, constantly reinterpreted, constantly evolving … It’s always fascinating when artists with global platforms dismiss opera and ballet as irrelevant. Opera and ballet have survived wars … To call these art forms irrelevant says far less about the art itself than it does about how little time someone has spent truly experiencing it.”