Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet had a conversation with Variety about shortening audience attention spans and the value of the arts, and it's earning them some bombastic side-eye.
McConaughey pointed out his concern about how stories are being told now, specifically that movies now seem to either fast-forward through the first act to get to the second, or they skip over act one altogether to get to the meat of the action, eliminating the world-building, character-building, and empathetic connections audiences create with these characters.
In the meantime, Chalamet discussed the kind of projects he was interested in participating in, pointing out that he would not want to get anywhere near a project in ballet or opera.
Chalamet explained:
"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.'"
'All respect to the ballet and opera people out there."
"I just lost 14 cents in viewership."
You can watch the segment here:
Viewers were unsettled by Chalamet's uncultured take on the opera and the ballet.
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Soon after, various organizations and individuals began responding to Chalamet's dismissal of ballet and opera as valid art forms, including the Royal Ballet and Opera and Irish opera singer Seán Tester.
A favorite among the responses came from none other than the Met. In a 22-second video that spoke volumes, they highlighted the hard work that went into the stage production and design, in addition to the music and performances, of some of their recent shows.
In a text overlay, the Met wrote:
"All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there."
Then, in the caption, with a side-eye emoji, they wrote:
"This one's for you, Timothée Chalamet..."
You can watch the video here:
Viewers applauded the Met for its response and ridiculed Chalamet for his comments.
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A few TikTokers even invented "Chalamath" in the comments, confirming that his logic was just not adding up.
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It's heartening to see people coming together to defend theater, opera, the ballet as valid art forms, in addition the movie theater domain that Chalamet prefers.
It seems that a French last name and great hair will only get you so far.
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