Luca Guadagnino defends Timothée Chalamet over opera and ballet notes: “How can one comment become a planetary debate?” | film

Director Luca Guadagnino has defended Timothée Chalamet after the actor sparked criticism for suggesting that ballet and opera are two art forms that “no one cares about” anymore.

Speaking to Italian newspaper La Stampa ahead of the Florence premiere of his opera The Death of Klinghofer, the director said the reaction to Chalamet’s comments had been disproportionate.

“I’m not on social media and I don’t understand how [single] “The suspension could become a planetary controversy,” Guadagnino said.

The director cast Chalamet in the role of the stunning actor, in 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. Guadagnino, who made his operatic debut in 2011 with a production of Verdi’s Falstaff, admitted that the actor “could have saved himself… but he is young, intelligent and sensitive, and he fears that cinema will become marginal. That is why every form of imagination must be nurtured.” He added: “We must unite the arts, not divide them.”

Chalamet received significant backlash following comments made during a taped CNN/Variety conversation with Matthew McConaughey on February 24, in which he said: “I don’t want to work in ballet, or opera, or things that are like: ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.'”

His remarks sparked condemnation from members of the ballet and opera communities, including Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, who responded on social media by inviting the actor to attend Guadagnino’s upcoming production of The Death of Klinghoffer.

“Come and see for yourselves that opera is alive, moving, and really matters to people,” the foundation posted on social media.

Actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Whoopi Goldberg were also among those who publicly criticized Chalamet’s statements.

Guadagnino’s intervention represents Chalamet’s most notable defense to date. The actor’s comments sparked a broader debate about the place of traditional performing arts in contemporary culture.

Chalamet was unsuccessful in his bid to become the second-youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor earlier this year, when he lost out to Michael B. Jordan at the Academy Awards. However, it seems unlikely that his comments about opera and ballet influenced the snub of his performance in Marty Supreme, as the interview only aired as Oscar voting closed.