The star that made Timothée Chalamet want to be an actor
In recent years, actor Timothée Chalamet has established himself as one of the most sought-after actors of his generation. In fact, his Dune director, Denis Villeneuve, claims that he, along with Zendaya, Austin Butler and Florence Pugh, is “the future of Hollywood”. High praise indeed.
Chalamet has starred in Call Me by Your Name by Luca Guadagnino, Lady Bird and Little Women by Greta Gerwig and Beautiful Boy opposite Steve Carrell. But Chalamet says that he owes his entire acting career to one man, the iconic actor Heath Ledger.
In an interview with The Last Magazine, Chalamet explained how Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight inspired him to become an actor. “I saw The Dark Knight when I was thirteen,” he said, “before I applied for LaGuardia, and Heath Ledger made me want to act.”
The actor went on to explain that it wasn’t just Ledger’s performance but the work of director Christopher Nolan that made him realise that he wanted a future career in the acting profession. “I know it’s cheesy and not as sophisticated as saying I watched Citizen Kane, and that made me want to embrace the art of filmmaking, but that was the movie of my generation,” he said.
Chalamet was soon lucky enough to work for Nolan on his 2014 science fiction film Interstellar, where he played the role of Matthew McConaughey’s character’s son. “So to get to work on [Interstellar],” Chalamet said, “there was the element of, I want to be here for all the right reasons.”
But back to Ledger for a moment, who was the real inspiration behind Chalamet’s decision to become an actor. He once told IndieWire of his Dark Knight performance, “I just had no clue what was going on in his head, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.”
Then in his New York Film Critics Circle Award acceptance speech in 2018, Chalamet further opened up on his first time watching Ledger in his famous role as the Joker. “When I was 12 years old, after attending one of my sister, Pauline’s, performances, I petitioned my mom and grandma to see Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight with me,” the actor said.
He added, “We went to AMC Empire 25, in Times Square, for a 7:30 screening, and I left that theatre a changed man… And I’m serious about that. Heath Ledger’s performance in that film was visceral and viral to me… And I now had the acting bug.”
It’s a role that the young actor always seems to turn to whenever he accepts an award. In that same year, at the National Board of Review Gala Awards, Chalamet said, “It was really a transformative experience for me. I didn’t know anything about acting, but I knew I wanted to play something or someone like Heath Ledger’s Joker.”
