Timothee Chalamet’s stray comment on ballet and opera from two months ago still haunts him. The Oscar nominee had infamously said nobody cares about the two art forms, leading to a lot of backlash from all circles. Now, fellow actor Charlize Theron has also slammed him, calling the comment ‘reckless’ and saying an artist should not ‘sh**’ on another art form.
Charlize Theron slams Timothee Chalamet
In an interview with The New York Times, Charlize said dance was ‘one of the hardest things’ she ever did. When the interviewer took the moment to ask her about Timothee’s statement on dance, in particular ballet, the actor responded, “Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day. That was a very reckless comment on an art form, two art forms, that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in 10 years, AI is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live.”
Charlize added that her own experience with dance taught her about the significance and challenges of that art form. “And we shouldn’t sh** on other art forms. Dance taught me discipline. It taught structure. It taught hard work. It taught me to be tough. It’s borderline abusive. There were several times that I had blood infections from blisters that just never healed. And you don’t get a day off. I’m literally talking about bleeding through your shoes. And that’s something that you have to practice every single day, the mindset of just, you don’t give up, there’s no other option, you keep going,” she added.
What Timothee had said
In February, during A CNN & Variety Town Hall Event, Timothee was asked about sustained relevance in Hollywood, and he said he wanted to keep theatres alive, comparing it to ballet and opera. “I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, [who] go on a talk show and go, ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theatres alive. You know, we gotta keep this genre alive.’ And another part of me feels like, if people wanna see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re gonna go see it and go out of their way and be loud and proud about it. And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive.’ Even though it’s like, no one cares about this anymore.” The statement caused a huge uproar, with prominent exponents of ballet and opera criticising Timothee.