Director Luca Guadagnino Defends Timothée Chalamet's Ballet and Opera Comments

Director Luca Guadagnino is defending Timothée Chalamet after his recent controversy surrounding his comments on ballet and opera. In a recent interview, the Call Me By Your Name director gave his thoughts on the response to the Wonka star saying that "no one cares" about the “ballet or opera.”

“I am not on social media and don’t understand how one [single] comment can become a planetary polemic,” Variety reports Guadagnino said to Italian daily La Stampa.

Guadagnino continued by affirming Chalamet's love of cinema, although stating that we must "unite the arts," instead of separating them.

“Maybe Timothée could have spared himself,” he continued. “But he’s young, smart, sensitive and he fears that cinema could become marginal. And that’s exactly why every form of imagination should be nurtured. We must unite the arts, not separate them.”

Chalamet's comments from his aforementioned conversation with Variety and CNN received backlash earlier this year. The actor, who has been receiving accolades for his performance in Marty Supreme, was speaking about changing habits in moviegoing and attention spans when he shared his thoughts about the longevity of other art forms.

"I don't want to be working in ballet or opera or things where it's like 'Hey, keep this thing alive,' even though no one cares about this anymore," Chalamet said, before quickly adding, "All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason."

Several stars responded negatively to Chalamet's views, including Nathan Lane, who called him a "schmuck" while on The View.

“First of all, one should remember people will be going to see Swan Lake and La Traviata long after someone at a dinner party says, ‘Who was Timothée Chalamet?'... and the bigger question is, why was there a town hall meeting with Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet? I mean, who deemed this meeting of the minds necessary? Why isn’t there a town hall meeting with Democrats discussing how to get this lunatic out of the White House?”

Also among those who addressed the comments include Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera, the Royal Ballet and Opera, opera singers Andrea Bocelli, Isabel Leonard, and Deepa Johnny, ballet dancer Victor Caixeta, and choreographer Martin Chaix, among others.