After winning Best Actor at the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards back in February for playing Bob Dylan in music biopic A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet took to the stage in a visible state of shock. His staggered surprise soon gave way to an unapologetic mode of self-confidence. “I know the classiest thing would be to downplay the effort that went into this role, but the truth is that this was five and a half years of my life,” he asserted. “The truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know that people don’t usually talk like that, but I wanna be one of the greats. I’m inspired by the greats.”
Chalamet hasn’t ever exactly been shy — at least not since his nascent steps into movie stardom circa Call Me by Your Name — but this was the Gen Z matinee idol in a braggy form we hadn’t really seen before: some might say self-assured, others would less generously describe it as hubris. People are generally allergic to excessive pride and confidence, and – particularly in the UK – humility is beaten into most of us from the moment we are born as an essential moral value. So on the one hand, it was bold of Chalamet to state out loud that he was determined to be a GOAT, and to take his place in the Hollywood history books alongside the likes of Brando, Pacino and Day-Lewis. On the other, you can understand why it might rub people up the wrong way.
On the press tour for Marty Supreme, Chalamet has leant further into his newfound brand of braggadocio. In a reportedly now-deleted interview on YouTube — which has nonetheless generated headlines, and was clipped and widely shared on TikTok — the actor boasted that the film contains the best work of his career, and that he has putting out “committed, top of the line performances” since his breakout eight years ago. “It’s important to say it out loud, because the discipline, the work ethic I’m bringing to these things… I don’t want people to take for granted, [and] I don’t want to take for granted,” he said. “This is really some top-level shit.”
The responses in the TikTok comments varied from suggesting that Chalamet is “going Kanye on us,” to calling him “overrated,” and “too young to be that cocky.” Others were more sympathetic. “God forbid a guy has confidence in his work,” one commenter wrote.
After all, it’s not as though it’s hot air. At 29, Chalamet has been Oscar-nominated twice, headed up blockbusters like Dune and Wonka, and become one of the few bonafide movie stars of his generation, at a time when many argue that they are a dying breed. As far as Marty Supreme goes, early reactions have generally aligned with Chalamet’s self-praise that it is the best performance of his career. In the 2010s, dyed-in-the-wool Yeezy fans turned a blind eye to his narcissism because he made some of the greatest albums of the century; he was especially obnoxious about it, but his cockiness largely felt earned (this was years before his reprehensible antisemitic statements in 2022). Even if Chalamet is going a bit Kanye Lite — Cheezus, if you will — it’s hard to begrudge a guy a little vanity when the work is genuinely that good.
Besides which, it’s refreshing to see a celebrity depart from the faux-modest default that most actors deploy on the press circuit, especially when they’re campaigning for an Oscar. As Chalamet himself recognised in the SAG speech, the classiest — and expected — thing to do would be to glisten with humility and downplay his talents. But that never feels authentic, does it? Not only is it electric to see a guy back himself with his whole chest, you’ve also got to pay him kudos for his emotional honesty. Especially when that could feasibly impact his awards run when he is considered one of the Best Actor frontrunners going into next year – you can imagine older members of the Academy bristling at his refusal to play down his own brilliance.
