Here in the west, it’s been a couple of sh-tty weeks for Timothée Chalamet where award season is concerned. Timmy was the presumed frontrunner leading up the BAFTAs where Robert Aramayo was named best actor. The following weekend, at the SAG Awards, Michael B Jordan shook up the whole race when he won best actor. And all of this was happening just in time for the Oscar voting period.

Speaking of Oscar voting, it ended this past Thursday 5 March at 5pm PT. Just hours before the polls closed, Timmy went viral for his comments about ballet and opera during a town hall CNN/Variety Actors on Actors with Matthew McConaughey that was originally posted on YouTube last week even before the SAGs and intended to reach Oscar voters during the voting window. It took a few days for people to key into the moment but once they did, well you know how the internet works.

@calabasaswings I don’t know where ppl saw the profound and intellectual person in this guy. #timothéechalamet #ballet #opera #cancelled ♬ original sound - Calabasaswings

He knew it right away too. “I just took shots for no reason” – it’s true, there was a more articulate way to make his point, and instead of thinking through it, he flopped. And then the defense mechanism kicked in. “I just lost 14%” is basically fronting like “I don’t care what people think of me” even though nobody believes him.

I’m sure Matthew McConaughey tried to save him, put it into context, but few people are actually sticking around to watch how the rest of that conversation unfolded and whether or not there’s anything salvageable here. He said what he said, and he knows better, considering his mother, Nicole Flender, was a ballet dancer and worked on Broadway in musical theatre. She’s now a real estate agent because – and this is my presumption but it’s not like it’s a stretch – of a lack of opportunity in the arts in New York City. Again, he knows better. But he was flippant, it’s unjustifiable, and this is why he’s getting flamed. By ballet and opera.

This was posted just ahead of the Oscar voting deadline.

 

And in the days since, the theatre community across North America has been clowning Timothée Chalamet directly and creatively. On social media, digital spaces where he was once king, is giving him the Ellen treatment – every hour there’s a new story from someone sharing a sh-tty experience with him, or someone who knows someone else who had a sh-tty experience. At least that’s how it is in the west.

Timmy’s schedule, however, conveniently took him out of the west during as the backlash against him went nuclear. Marty Supreme opens in Japan on Friday and in China the week after so he was always expected to be there on promotion before returning to LA for Oscar weekend. Part of Marty Supreme takes place in Japan, so it’s no surprise for the film’s marketing to have him there, reuniting with co-star and ping pong player IRL Koto Kawaguchi who plays Endo.

Timmy is popular in Japan, he’s been there on several previous press tours, it’ll be interesting to see how the film performs. And then there’s the Chinese box office because he’s now in Chengdu, his father is with him for the trip, and footage has been shared of Chinese fans swarming him at his various events which include playing with the OGs.

 That popo doing calisthenics is killing me, I love her so much.

Timmy, as you can see, is wearing the Marty Supreme windbreaker, customed for Japan and then China where he was also selling tofu at a stall. And speaking Mandarin.

You will note, he is obviously not being a dick in East Asia. Marty Mauser is much more agreeable, charming, accommodating, humble – the kind of behaviour Oscar voters were expecting from him on the award circuit, only half a planet away.

Photo credits: Julie Edwards/Future Image/Cover Images

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