How to Come of Age Onscreen? Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet Know
(Edited)
By PHILIP GALANES JAN. 31, 2018
Print Edition NY Times January 4 2018
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“Want to know what I call him?” Saoirse Ronan asked, pointing at Timothée Chalamet, who had just joined us at the table and was shrugging off his coat. “Pony,” the actress said, “Because he’ll come up to Greta and me and nuzzle us.”
“Greta” is the screenwriter and director Greta Gerwig, making it a high-class stable: All three are nominated for an Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards. And as if on cue, Mr. Chalamet lowered his head like a baby foal and nestled it gently beneath Ms. Ronan’s jaw. “It’s quite disarming,” she said with a laugh. “My Pretty Pony!”
Mr. Chalamet, 22, also appears in “Lady Bird,” as a very bad boyfriend of Ms. Ronan’s character. But it is for his heartbreaking turn in Luca Guadagnino’s coming-of-age film “Call Me by Your Name,” about a summer romance between two young men, that Mr. Chalamet has won raves, as well numerous nods on the awards circuit, including an Academy Award nomination for best actor.
Like Ms. Ronan, Mr. Chalamet was born in New York. He graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in 2013. Along with roles on the television series “Homeland” and in the films “Men, Women & Children” and “Interstellar,” he starred in the Off Broadway production of John Patrick Shanley’s play “Prodigal Son,” for which he won the Lucille Lortel Award for lead actor in a play.
PG What do you worry about?
TC When you get to act in things as good as “Lady Bird” or “Call Me by Your Name,” you’ve got a huge responsibility to do them truthfully. So that young people watching can say, “I see myself on that screen!” What if I can’t do it?
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PG Are you better on the 13th take, Timothée?
TC As Armie [Hammer, Mr. Chalamet’s co-star in “Call Me by Your Name”] says, “I wear my heart on my sleeve.” That argues for innateness, I guess. But the greatest lesson for me in drama school was failing, time after time. In my sophomore year, I struggled with this one scene. I never did it right. It was always bad..
TC One of my favorite scenes in “Call Me by Your Name” is the morning after Elio and Oliver have made love for the first time, and there’s this weird tension that develops. There was some dialogue, and we tried it a few times. Then we tried it without the lines. And it works so much better that way because it’s unclear. It invites the viewer to figure out what the characters are going through.
TC You know what’s weird? My favorite moment in my film is one I shouldn’t be able to relate to: when Michael Stuhlbarg, who plays my father, says, “As for our bodies, there comes a time when no one wants to come near them.” That moment shatters me.
SR What these films have in common — even t
PG There are two uncannily parallel scenes in your movies: Your characters are on emotional overload — Elio has just said goodbye to his lover, Lady Bird has lost her virginity to Timmy’s character — and they both fall apart, in cars, with their mothers.
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“I’ve always known, from the age of 12, that I was being asked different questions by interviewers than men,” said Ms. Ronan. “That always infuriated me.” Credit Hilary Swift for The New York Times
SR As a young person, the lovely thing about having scenes between parents and children is that there are still so many times when I want to wallow and fall apart, and you’ve got that person, who’s a few steps ahead of you, there to pick you up.
TC I’m still young enough that moments with my parents have not taken on that sweet tone I understand they take later in life. I’m in that confused state of “You guys are still the guiders, right?”
SR I get nostalgic for being very young, like 7 or 8, when I was still in the countryside, when you’d go to school and have your few friends. I miss the simplicity of that.
PG Are you saying the red carpet is not like a village in Ireland?
SR I don’t know what it’s been like for you, Timmy, going through the award ceremonies for the first time. When I did it with “Brooklyn,” it was wonderful, but also quite overwhelming. And like what I was saying before, it moves on before you have time to grasp it. This time, it feels more relaxing, maybe because we’re doing it together.
TC For me, it’s thrilling just to be in these rooms with these people.
PG Is #MeToo adding a layer of complexity? The red carpets look daunting enough without having to say something intelligent about sexual politics.
SR It’s been the hot topic this year, for sure. And at the Golden Globes the other night, there was more sense of purpose than I’ve ever experienced at an awards show.
PG As kids on film sets, did you have an inkling of the inequality women faced?
SR I’ve always been outspoken, so I’ve felt listened to. But these conversations have sent me looking back at my experiences, professionally and personally, since I was young. I think men’s and women’s perspectives on women are warped.
PG How so?
SR Well, it’s really not an equal playing field.
TC I feel very lucky to have an older sister who always pointed out the dynamics of what it’s like when a woman shares her ideas, how they’re received compared to men’s ideas. And being young, hopefully getting to act for years on end, changing.
PG “Call Me by Your Name” opened a month after the Kevin Spacey scandal broke. People complained that Armie was too old to be your co-star, that it looked pervy. Did you worry about that?
TC Not at all. Art takes place in the head of the audience member. So, anybody’s reaction is fair — as long as they’ve seen the art. And I’ve yet to speak with anyone who saw the film as anything other than a consensual story, full of love.
SR And you watch the characters learning from each other. You see that Timmy’s character is getting as much out of it as Armie’s.
PG Timmy’s crossed that bridge. Did you struggle with your decision to work with Woody Allen?
SR Have you done a film with Woody?
TC It’s part of our jobs now, as actors, to be more aware of the choices we’re making. And it’s going to be important for me to talk about working with Woody. But “Call Me by Your Name” is my first big film. And I’m not going to let anything chip away at my celebration of that. [As promised, Mr. Chalamet has since released a statement announcing that he is donating his salary from Mr. Allen’s film to charities.]
PG You both come from showbiz families: Saoirse’s dad is an actor; Timothée’s mom was a dancer. Did they worry about you working as children?
SR If you handle it right, there’s a way
TC I love that my mom is going to read this! So many kids want to pursue acting and are told no by their parents. But mine always said, “If this is something you want, we will fully support it.” And they did. But after I did “Homeland” and “Interstellar,” I was itching to launch my career. But my mom, who had always
PG I was still begging my parents for money at your age.
TC I still am.
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TC Right now, I feel like I want to jump into the most intense thing, work-wise. It appeals to me. I don’t know what would happen if I waited six months. It’s like what we were saying about failure creating freedom. After all this positive reception, I feel like I need to get back to failing again.
PG Last question …
TC I have a feeling I know what it’s going to be.
SR What?
TC Something about sex with peaches or our sex scene in “Lady Bird.”
PG Wrong! When they go low, we go high. This is my question: Elio would be 51 today, and Lady Bird would be 33. What do you imagine their lives are like now?
TC Well, I’m a little restricted because there’s a chapter at the end of the novel that hints at that. But I think he’s open with himself. His sexuality wasn’t something that he had to grapple with as hard as Oliver did.
SR And I just automatically think Lady Bird is living Greta’s life. She’s a successful writer; she’s found a great man. And I hope she has a nice relationship with her family at home. You know, living in New York, but going home to Sacramento for Christmas.
Do you realize Hitler seriously considered sending Jews to the barren and isolated island of Madagascar?