Timothée Chalamet has been under scrutiny for a comment he made in a recent interview during his press tour for his new movie, Marty Supreme. Chalamet said “And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like ‘Hey, keep this thing alive’ even though…no one cares about this anymore.”
Professional ballet and opera companies responded with criticism, stating that their art forms are still very much alive. The Royal Ballet and Opera’s official Instagram account shared a video that displayed excerpts from various ballet and opera productions and behind the scenes work with the words “We Care.” Part of their caption read “If you’d like to reconsider, [Chalamet], our doors are open.” Another renowned opera and ballet company, Teatro alla Scala, shared a video that showed professional ballet dancers taking a company bow in front of a sold-out audience and ended the video with the words “sounds like someone cares.”
Chalamet’s comment about centuries-old art forms didn’t result from ignorance but rather, arrogance. Chalamet grew up in New York City and was raised with art as a main focus point in his life. His grandmother, Enid Rodman Flender and his mother Nicole Flender were both professional performers. Enid performed as a professional dancer while Nicole trained at New York City Ballet as a child and then went on to perform on Broadway. Chalamet has and has always had a first hand experience of the arts, which is more than most people ever get to experience. His incredibly immersive upbringing contradicts his offensive comment that undermined two of the most culturally relevant and influential classical western art forms.
His position in saying that “no one cares” is just blatantly wrong. Professional ballet and opera companies recommend buying tickets weeks or even months in advance for their performances, as the biggest company performances are easily sold out. People want to see what organizations like American Ballet Theatre, The Metropolitan Opera, Miami City Ballet, and so many more companies have to offer. Opera is over 400 years old, and ballet is over 500 years old. Artforms that expand past just a lifetime and get passed on generation after generation aren’t dying in 2026. Instead, they are more prevalent than ever. The culture fostered from these meaningful artforms has impacted countries throughout the world for centuries. Reducing their impact to something that we simply just need to “keep alive” is disregarding the dedication thousands of people have put into ballet and opera in their own lifetimes and for hundreds of years.
Today, in Hollywood, classical art forms are sometimes cast aside. Stars forget to remember that movies and TV Shows are often an evolutionary result from classical art forms. It’s frustrating to see the constant negative stereotypes about the art forms that people of all different ages and orientations have clung to, even many at Bloomington South, with clubs focusing on choir, orchestra, theatre, band, and more. Art evolves from art. Classical ballet and opera were here before any of Chalamet’s films, and they will outlast them too.
