HOLLYWOOD:
What has occurred to Timothee Chalamet?
Just some brief weeks in the past, Hollywood’s golden boy seemed to be a shoo-in to win his first Oscar for his arresting portrayal of a boundlessly formidable ping-pong participant in “Marty Supreme.”
However his odds have plummeted within the last stretch of the perfect actor race, as controversy erupted over Chalamet’s viral feedback dismissing opera and ballet as artwork varieties that “nobody cares about anymore.”
Chalamet’s jocular feedback, made throughout an on-stage interview with Matthew McConaughey, earned him rebukes from a number of main opera homes and Hollywood celebrities together with Academy Award winner Jamie Lee Curtis.
The 30-year-old performer was even scolded by the principal of New York’s LaGuardia Excessive College, the very establishment the place Chalamet honed his craft, and which impressed the musical movie and TV collection “Fame.”
Memes entitled “The way to Lose an Oscar in 10 Days” have swiftly unfold throughout social media.
However all is probably not because it seems.
Pete Hammond, a veteran leisure columnist with Hollywood commerce web site Deadline, informed AFP that the opera furor has had “zero impact” on the Oscars.
“That is not an element… it did not go viral till very late within the sport, and that wasn’t in time to affect voting,” mentioned Hammond.
Certainly, although Chalamet made the remarks in February, they went largely unnoticed till they started spreading on-line halfway by means of final week. Oscars voting closed final Thursday.
“That exact remark is not going to harm him within the Oscars,” mentioned Hammond.
‘Curse’
Nonetheless, pundits and prediction markets alike are clear that Chalamet’s possibilities have declined precipitously.
After cleansing up at awards exhibits early this 12 months together with the Critics Alternative Awards and the Golden Globes, Chalamet misplaced first at Britain’s BAFTAs, after which at this month’s Actor Awards.
The latter is particularly vital as it’s voted for by Hollywood’s actors union, and actors make up the biggest voting bloc for the Oscars.
They favored Michael B. Jordan for his twin function as gangster twins, rebelling towards a segregationist America and battling supernatural forces in “Sinners.”
So what’s the clarification for the sudden reversal of a race that had lengthy appeared over?
A number of theories abound.
Again in January, The New York Occasions highlighted the so-called “younger actor’s curse,” noting that Academy voters traditionally favor veterans within the male classes.
Even Leonardo DiCaprio — a nominee once more this 12 months, for “One Battle After One other” — was made to attend till he was 41 to lastly win with “The Revenant,” his fifth appearing nomination.
If profitable, Chalamet could be the second-youngest finest actor winner in historical past, after Adrien Brody, who was 29 when he received in 2003 for “The Pianist.”
‘Greats’
Others have accused Chalamet of conceitedness.
Final 12 months, campaigning for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in “A Full Unknown,” Chalamet publicly trumpeted his ambitions to be “one of many greats,” seeming to match himself to a number of Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Marlon Brando.
He misplaced that Oscar race to… Brody, who took his second golden statuette.
This 12 months, Chalamet has leaned into his “Marty Supreme” character’s pretentious persona, most notably by “leaking” a parody video name with publicists during which he muses on portray New York’s Statue of Liberty orange — the colour of the ping-pong balls featured within the movie.
