Timothée Chalamet is on a hot streak, fresh off an Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name. But just a few years ago he was a virtual unknown, thrilled that his second feature film project would be Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. Chalamet co-starred as teen Tom, younger version of Casey Affleck's character Tom Cooper, son of Matthew McConaughey's Coop. During an Actors on Actors talk with Emma Stone, Chalamet admitted he got very emotional watching the film -- and not for reasons one might expect. Here's how that conversation played out:
Timothée Chalamet: When I did Interstellar, I saw that 12 times in theaters in IMAX. ... Christopher Nolan had a screening at Lincoln Square and he invited just some of the people from the cast, which is surreal because it's a huge IMAX theater. But it was me, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and John Lithgow. And I really had no career at this point, so I was like the fraud a little bit in this room. And I saw it and I loved it, but then I went home with my dad and wept for an hour.Emma Stone: Why?Timothée: Because I just figured my part was bigger. They didn't even cut anything. I just figured... I don't know what I figured.[Emma Stone suggested it just felt so giant when he was doing it, and he agreed.]Timothée: Also, I had this monologue in space that's like [Matthew] McConaughey's most brilliant acting in the movie, where he's getting those video logs and he starts weeping. It's really amazing. The whole thing plays on him, as it should, 'cause it's about him. But I'm in the theater and I'm like [anguished].Emma: 'I had incredible stuff here!'
If I ever wept over a film role being smaller than I imagined, I would not announce it. Not even to a friend. I'd take it to my grave. But that's part of why fans are so charmed by Timothée Chalamet. He's a heart-on-his-sleeve kinda guy, and shared it all to Emma Stone in their Variety chat. And at least he understood why director Christopher Nolan chose to show that scene from Matthew McConaughey's perspective. McConaughey's crying scene became a meme, because it really does perfectly capture feeling ALL the feels.
Here's a refresher of how that scene played out in the movie:
It may have crushed Timothée Chalamet to see his big Interstellar monologue moment turned into a moment for Matthew McConaughey, but all he had to do was wait just a few years for his own time in the spotlight. From Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name to Beautiful Boy and the upcoming Little Women and The King, Chalamet is just about everywhere these days. And he's only 22. He's just getting started.
Timothée Chalamet was just nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 76th Golden Globe Awards for his role in Beautiful Boy. We'll have to see if that will also inspire the Academy Awards to give him another nod.
Here are the movies still ahead in the few weeks left to 2018, plus more to come in 2019.
