I’ve been writing for months during this press tour for A Complete Unknown, how thrilling it’s been as a student of pop culture to watch Timothée Chalamet resist doing celebrity by prescription. Maybe even describing it that way is a disservice itself to his celebrity and the way he’s been managing it. Maybe it’s not so much that he’s rejecting the formula than coming up with an entirely new one, not just tolerating fame and not necessarily thirstily embracing it, either, but accepting it as a byproduct of his talent and his choices – and wearing it, at least from this vantage point, rather comfortably. 

 

That ease was on full display on Saturday Night Live this weekend when he was both the host and the musical guest, in itself a rare accomplishment. Singing, after all, is not Timmy’s day job. But before that, there was the monologue when he confirmed that he would indeed be performing Bob Dylan’s music, earnestly telling the audience that Dylan’s work has become so personal to him that it’s shaped or reshaped his worldview. And then balancing that sincerity with some strategic self-deprecation about how many times he’s been nominated for awards, and how many times he’s lost – which is basically all of the times. 

 

This is clever, especially now, because obviously Timothée Chalamet is campaigning for an Oscar fresh off his nomination. But it’s a delicate dance to do it while flexing that he’s not even 30 and has just tied James Dean for youngest actor to have been nominated for Best Actor twice; and also not go too far down the “feel sorry for me” road, since nobody needs to feel bad for Timmy Chalamet; while also not making it seem like he doesn’t want it at all; but wants it enough, and respects it enough… just not too much to the point of desperado. And, somehow, make all of that cool and cute – cool enough for Gen Z and the Alphas and cute enough for everyone older. 

 

That’s what Timmy pulled off on Saturday night, and this was just the monologue. The sketches? They weren’t all winners, but the energy was there – and more than half of it is having a good time, anyway. Timmy was having a great time. It was also pretty clear to anyone who watches SNL regularly and knows the rhythms that the cast was having a good time with him, that they like him, a LOT. All of that usually makes for a good show. 

And then, of course, his two performances. As noted before, I have no background in Bob Dylan, not the person and definitely not the music. That Timmy chose to perform songs that were not featured in the film means nothing to me because every Bob Dylan song, for me, is a deep cut. As a viewer, then, what I was watching was the biggest movie star of his generation bringing his “it factor” as a musician. Or, rather, as an actor playing a musician. Or is it an actor playing a hybrid character that he just invented, blurring the line between himself and the musician he becomes in the biopic? 

 

I don’t know that whatever it is that he did on SNL is even definable yet; it just might have been the birth of a new performative artform. Because he definitely wasn’t imitating Bob Dylan on that stage – that was unmistakably Timothée Chalamet on the mic; but another version of him, the version that emerges when he merges with Dylan’s music; resulting in two thoroughly contemporary performances that are at times profound, and funny, and irreverent, connecting to both his own demographic and the dads out there who are territorial about their musical idol. Cruising through the message boards, from what I’ve seen, the Dylan diehards approve. But again, Timmy isn’t just catering to them. Did you catch the meme off the top? 

"In 1975 I walked Bob Dylan up on stage!"

 

If you’re not familiar, the trumpet guy video went viral over a decade ago and has found new life every couple of years when someone else discovers it. If you’ve never seen it, here’s a link that’s been watched over seven million times, and I don’t think it’s the original. Not surprising that Timmy knows this meme and the fact that he included it in his arrangement is hilarious. But it also works on a meta level because trumpet guy was yelling at a kid for not being good enough at music. And here’s Timmy the kid playing Bob f-cking Dylan and daring to perform his music on a stage Dylan once occupied….

It's breathtaking! It’s exhilarating!

He is SO good at this. And he’s already good at acting but over and above what Timothée Chalamet brings to a role, it’s what he’s bringing to Celebrity, capital “C”, what he’s bringing to Stardom, capital “S” in these times where the Movie Star, supposedly, no longer exists. 

 

I’m not saying he’ll be responsible for saving the Movie Star but that, maybe, if there are Movie Stars in the future, he’s the one who reinvented how to be one. 

 

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