Steven Spielberg appeared to shade Timothée Chalamet after the actor precipitated controversy by disparaging ballet and opera.
Showing at a Friday, March 13, panel on the 2026 SXSW Convention and Competition, the director, 79, seemingly referenced the Marty Supreme star’s latest viral feedback, based on Selection.
“On the finish of a very good film expertise, we’re all united with an entire bunch of emotions that we stroll into the daylight with, or into the nighttime with. And there’s nothing like that. It occurs in motion pictures, and in live shows,” mentioned Spielberg as he spoke in regards to the significance of film theaters. “And it occurs in ballet and opera, by the best way.”
He added, “We wish that to be sustained. We wish that to go endlessly.”
Chalamet precipitated a stir when a clip from his CNN and Selection February 24 city corridor with Matthew McConaughey went viral.
“I love individuals, and I’ve achieved it myself, who go on a chat present and say, ‘Hey, we’ve received to maintain film theaters alive, we’ve gotta hold this style alive,’ and one other a part of me seems like if individuals need to see it, like Barbielike Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and exit of their option to be loud and proud about it,” he advised McConaughey, 56. “I don’t need to be working in ballet, or opera, or issues the place it’s like, ‘Hey, hold this factor alive, though, like, nobody cares about this anymore.’ All respect to all of the ballet and opera individuals on the market.”
Acknowledging his feedback could possibly be seen as contentious, Chalamet then joked, “I simply misplaced 14 cents in viewership. I simply took pictures for no motive.”
Timothee Chalamet.
(Picture by Monica Schipper/Getty Pictures)Chalamet confronted backlash for his tackle the artistic arts, with celebrities equivalent to Justine Bateman and Doja Cat amongst those that took purpose.
“Ballet, Opera, and Theater work has been round for much longer than that of Movie and TV,” Bateman, 60, wrote through X on March 9. “Each filmmaker ought to pray they’re (sic) movie/sequence lasts so long as the work from these enduring performing arts.”
Timothée Chalamet beefing with the Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera and Royal Ballet was not on anybody’s 2026 bingo card. Chalamet, 30, raised eyebrows after making an off-handed remark in regards to the performing arts neighborhood throughout an onstage dialog with Selection, which was revealed final month. “Some individuals need to be entertained rapidly. I’m actually proper in (…)
For her half, Doja Cat slammed Chalamet for his opinion that “nobody cares” about ballet and opera.
“Opera is 400 years previous. Ballet is 500 years previous,” Doja, 30, mentioned through a TikTok video on March 8, calling Chalamet out by identify.
“Any person named Timothée Chalamet — large man, by the best way — had the nerve to say on digital camera that no one cares about it,” the “Paint the City Crimson” rapper mentioned. “I’m positive you may stroll into an opera theater proper now, seats will probably be crammed out, and no one’s saying a phrase because the efficiency goes as a result of everyone has that a lot respect for it.”