‘She dreamed bigger than us all’: Is Timothée Chalamet really a big fan of Susan Boyle? | Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Chalamet understands the true nature of greatness. In Marty Supreme, he plays a character loosely based on the former two-time American table tennis champion. In Completely Anonymous, he played Bob Dylan at the moment he decided to remake all of popular culture in his own image. His upcoming third film, Dune, is based on a book literally called The Messiah. So, when Timothée Chalamet chooses a character for greatness, understand that greatness is justified.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that Timothée Chalamet thinks Susan Boyle is great. Not just great, but one of the greatest Britons who ever lived.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Chalamet was asked to name his favorite British people. After naming David and Victoria Beckham, Lewis Hamilton and Fuckmink (a rapper who has worked with EsDeeKid, an artist some suspect to be Chalamet in disguise). Then he named Susan Boyle. As the interviewer laughed in surprise, Chalamet explained his choice. “She had big dreams,” he said. “She dreamed bigger than all of us. Who wasn’t affected by that? I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Susan Boyle, for those of you who are heartless, is a singer who shot to fame after auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent in 2009. Her audition clip went viral because people couldn’t understand the huge contrast between her appearance (an ordinary middle-aged woman) and her singing voice (loud and soulful). Her first album, I Dreamed a Dream, sold 10 million copies. A musical was made about her journey. Fox bought the film rights. She reportedly has a net worth of £22 million.

All of this constitutes an amazing achievement. But the bigger question is: truly? To be clear, Susan Boyle is undoubtedly a great example of British talent. But does Timothée Chalamet really think so, or is he just messing around for the clicks?

This has become a bit of an issue with Timothée Chalamet. He seems to always live in an emotional backwater where no one can discern his appropriate level of honesty. For example, he recently promoted Marty Supreme with what seemed like a Trumpian level of self-aggrandizement, telling an interviewer: “It’s been seven or eight years that I’ve been performing really committedly at the highest level… and this is actually some high-level bullshit.”

On the surface, this sounds like something that could ruin a career. It portrays him as aloof, out of touch, and boastful, and it is difficult to reward this type of person with an award. The fact that the interview clip has since been deleted from YouTube suggests that this may be the case.

But on the other hand, come on, this is Timothée Chalamet we’re talking about. He’s the guy who rides Lime bikes to his first shows. He’s the guy who enters his own competitions. He’s a man who, to say the least, refuses to deny conspiracy theories that he’s actually a rapper wearing a mask. So the fact that he chose to act like a self-important person while promoting a movie where he plays a self-important character would certainly be entirely in keeping with his character — as well as with today’s press tour.

Which brings us back to Susan Boyle. Really, there’s only one way for anyone to know whether Timothée Chalamet actually loves Boyle, or if this is just another one of his sincerely satirical artistic pranks. That is why I need to call on all my fellow journalists.

Please interviewers, when you are given time with Timothée Chalamet, I urge you to only ask him questions about Susan Boyle. Ask him about his five favorite songs. Ask him who directed the video for her cover version of “Lou Reed’s Perfect Day.” Ask him what he thinks about the moral implications of her decision to duet with Elvis Presley in her performance of “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Find out if he knows the name of the act that eventually beat her on Britain’s Got Talent. What Susan Boyle merchandise does he own? How many times has he seen her live?

Only this level of rigorous, evidence-based journalism will be able to help us get to the bottom of this. Actually, do you know what? Let Timothée Chalamet talk to me about this. Let me put a quick face to face with Susan Boyle. I’m serious. People need to know this, because if Chalamet really decided to take Susan Boyle’s name in vain for the sake of clicks, God help us all.