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Timothée Chalamet reveals his relationship philosophy: ‘Love is the opposite of fear’-James Mottram-Entertainment – Metro
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Chalamet’s new film is a twisted romantic tale (Picture: Mario Cartelli/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)
Timothée Chalamet has gone back to the 1980s – not just in his new cannibal movie but also in his trendy retro outfit. All curly hair and cherubic pout, the super-hot young star of Dune and Beautiful Boy is sitting in a posh Venice hotel, dressed in low-key casuals.
‘Oh, yeah, that’s funny,’ he says, when I compliment him on his faded T-shirt with a logo for the 1986 David Bowie musical Absolute Beginners. ‘That movie had no success when it came out.’
That’s not really something Chalamet knows much about, since he gained an Oscar nomination for 2017’s Call Me By Your Name and became an overnight icon. Now the 26-year-old star seems to cause Chalamania wherever he goes.
Half-American and half-French (on his father’s side), his transatlantic upbringing has left him thoughtful and engaged. He frequently responds with ‘I love that question’ when he hears something he likes. He’s philosophical, too, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.
‘Without sounding cheesy, I think love is the opposite of fear, the opposite emotion,’ he says, while remaining tight-lipped about his own relationship status (he’s been linked to Lourdes Leon and Lily Rose Depp). ‘At least for me. And I really like that.’
Right now he’s investigating the extremes of passion in Bones And All, a cannibal love story that pairs him with Waves rising star Taylor Russell. Set in the mid-1980s across the American Midwest, Chalamet plays Lee, a drifter who meets Russell’s Maren. As they fall in love, they’re also compelled to chow down on human flesh. It’s twisted, perverse and very, very tasty.
Chalamet as Lee in Bones And All (Picture: Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Picture)
Chalamet and Taylor Russell star in the cannibal love story (Picture: Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Picture)
The film reunites Chalamet with Luca Guadagnino, the Italian director of Call Me By Your Name. ‘I really don’t believe I’d have a career, be sitting here with you, if it wasn’t for Luca,’ he says.
‘After the first film we did together, which was a small, small, small budget… it felt like a test almost to be back and not in beautiful sunny Italy, but in Ohio and Nebraska and Kentucky. I’m very grateful to be an element, a watercolour in his greater painting.’
Chalamet dug the idea of going back to the 1980s, to an era before he was born. ‘It’s something that I like, working on movies, pre-cellphones existing,’ he says, ‘because humanity remains untainted by the ability to know something immediately via your phone. Or, in the case of Lee and Maren, maybe trying to understand who they were through Reddit or Google.’
While Bones And All is a metaphor (sexuality, addiction, consumerism, take your pick), it’s also a story of taboo-breaking lovers, such as classics Bonnie And Clyde and Badlands. ‘It felt old-fashioned that way,’ he says.
‘I feel it’s important to make sure that, to a younger audience, that isn’t meant to be off-putting. It isn’t supposed to be slow or laconic or boring but it’s actually – hopefully – what people falling in love or wrestling with their demons looks like.’
Chalamet gained an Oscar nomination in 2017 and became an overnight icon (Picture: Shutterstock)
He considers this for a minute. ‘When you think about Badlands and Bonnie And Clyde or even Grand Theft Auto, the video game… well, I’m thinking Grand Theft Auto V. That’s what I’ve been playing recently. But thank God, we don’t idolise these people in society, yet, you’re kind of rooting for them.’
But he doesn’t have much time for video games. ‘We’re shooting the Dune sequel now. And I shot Willy Wonka this year too. That’s been my big dream… to work on movies of that size.’
Yes, next year is going to be even bigger for Chalamet, as he returns to the sci-fi universe for Dune: Part Two and plays a younger version of Roald Dahl’s chocolate factory owner in Wonka. So what does he looks for in a project? ‘To be given the opportunity to be adaptable. To be in good hands and with someone that has a strong sensibility.’ As long as he doesn’t bite the hand that feeds him, of course.
Bones And All is in cinemas now
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