Timothée Chalamet possessed the same prospective movie star energy that Leonardo DiCaprio expressed in the ’90s, and that James Dean harnessed in the ’50s — a youthful playfulness, with boyish good looks and an organic charm. While Dean and DiCaprio sported blonde quiffs, piercing blue eyes, and an irresistible on-screen charisma, Chalamet, for all his undeniable albeit conventional good looks, always seemed to carry that dorkier, sillier side that has made him such a commercially-viable marketing tool.

“No hard drugs and no superhero movies,” DiCaprio reportedly advised Chalamet during their first encounter, and while we can’t possibly comment on the former, Chalamet has so far adhered to the latter piece of guidance to the MCU’s dismay. Scheduled to star in two of the most eagerly-anticipated movies of 2023, Wonka and Dune: Part Two, Chalamet is one of the most likable actors currently on the circuit, but what is it about Chalamet that makes so many people gravitate towards him?

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A Future Industry Great

     Legendary Pictures

After initially appearing in a string of television shows, including Homeland, the New Yorker got his feature debut in Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children before a career-making break in Christopher Nolan’s intellectual sci-fi movie, Interstellar. But it was as Elio Perlman in director Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 coming-of-age drama, Call Me By Your Name, where Chalamet really secured his status as a breakthrough star in a breathtakingly mature performance, way beyond his years.

Since then, his stock has skyrocketed, having become what many would consider a household name, landing key roles in Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, and Denis Villeneuve’s exceptional Dune. The Don’t Look Up star has exhibited his acting dexterity via a plethora of diverse characters, genres, and methods, from playing a closeted gay adolescent and King Henry V to a kind cannibal and a rebellious, drug-addicted young adult. Considering Chalamet is just 26 years old, he has developed quite a staggering repertoire and has already constructed a seriously accomplished portfolio.

Chalamet Redefines the Male Lead

     Sony Pictures

Historically, Hollywood and Westernized culture have been governed by a patriarchal structure that treasures toxic masculinity, a social construct that hegemonies and controls the ways in which men behave, think, and are perceived. From Steve McQueen, Sean Connery, and John Wayne, to Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood, and Denzel Washington, traditional male leads typically embody these macho, red-blooded, emotionally disengaged characters. Armored exteriors, who are programmed to simply fight, protect, dominate, and use women for sexual gratification, are traits that speak to the emotionally detached, inherently misogynistic hunter-gatherer, which in this day and age is a considerably outdated worldview.

Timothée Chalamet has helped reinvent the role of the lead male, both superficially and stylistically. His svelte figure is a departure from the gym-sculpted bodies of yesteryear and is instead more representative of the average man. Rather than the conventional approach of utilizing a stocky frame as a symbol of sexual prowess and a source of weaponry, his on-screen presence derives almost entirely from his demeanor. Similarly, his effeminate facial structure and floppy brown mop of hair gift him an unforgettable and intriguing edge, one that requires neither a beard nor a squared jawline.

Timothée Chalamet Grows by Embracing Vulnerability

     MGM

In 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, 2018’s Beautiful Boy, and Luca Guadagnino’s recent release, Bones and All, Chalamet comes across as an actor who has allowed himself to completely succumb to vulnerability. His openness, honesty, and susceptibility to expressing feeling is both refreshing, and a welcome deviation from the reserve of machismo. His emotionality places him at the mercy of the audience, while simultaneously empowering him to regenerate himself on screen with each passing role.

His popularity among female fans is, acting aside, undoubtedly down to the way in which he is both emotionally mature and also able to convey varying degrees of complex feelings on-screen. Chalamet’s in-depth understanding of his emotional sphere has irrefutably led to an emphatic demonstration of his adeptness as a multidimensional actor and one of the most impressive up-and-coming talents in the industry. Predictably, the excitement around his rendition of Roald Dahl’s chocolate-loving maniac, Willy Wonka reached fever-pitch when it was announced that he would be playing the iconic role that Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp had previously taken on.