“Cheers, Timmy!”: Royal Ballet and Opera boss praises Timothée Chalamet over controversy due to “fantastic” ticket sales
The boss of the Royal Ballet and Opera has said, “Cheers, Timmy!”, after the controversy with Timothée Chalamet slamming the art forms led to a “fantastic” spike in ticket sales.
Alex Beard was speaking in a recent interview with The Times, in which he officially responded to Chalamet saying “no one cares” about ballet and opera at an event last month. The Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO) subsequently shared a post on Instagram at the time saying “We Care,” and inviting the actor to see their work.
“I thought it important that we didn’t issue a kind of hoity-toity response to Chalamet,” Beard said, adding, “We simply said ‘Take a look at what we’re doing, mate’ – for instance, the fact that the largest portion of our audience by age is 20 to 30-year-olds.”
He continued: “And you know what? Our post got two-and-a-half million engagements and half a million shares, just on Instagram. And our ticket sales got an immediate boost. So cheers, Timmy!”
Beard also praised the “fantastic” public reaction to Chalamet’s media faux pas, which saw the company encouraging audiences to buy discounted tickets that weekend using the code “TIMOTHEE”.
The actor has never publicly readdressed the comments since they caused an uproar, after he said, “I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.'”
However, he was the subject of a number of jibes at the Oscars, which took place shortly afterwards. Host Conan O’Brien joked that the event had had to hire “extra tight security” due to “concerns about attacks” from the community.
On the night, Chalamet ultimately walked away empty-handed after vying for the ‘Best Actor’ award, which he lost to Michael B Jordan. His film, Marty Supreme, also didn’t win any of its nine nominations.
In recent days, Chalamet’s former mentor in Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino also said the actor “could have spared himself” from the controversy, as he prepares to launch his own opera in Italy.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.