It’s now a worldwide campaign. Major cultural institutions from Rome to Seattle to Lyon have reacted to Timothée Chalamet’s comments about opera and ballet, which the actor described as “things that nobody cares about any more”.
This explosive remark was made during a podcast organised by Variety and CNN between the Franco-American actor and his Hollywood counterpart Matthew McConaughey, at a University of Texas event on 24 February.
Just over 50 minutes into the show, Timothée Chalamet was asked about cinema attendance and the fact that audiences’ attention spans are dwindling, with some viewers wanting the action to start in the first few scenes. The star of Dune replied that if people really want to see a film, they will come naturally, citing Barbie and Oppenheimer as examples.
The actor then branched off, pointing out that some of the arts live mainly by the logic of institutional preservation, even if interest from the general public has waned. While assuring that he “admired” those who campaigned to “save” cinemas or a particular artistic genre – and that he had done so himself in the past – he nevertheless expressed reservations:“I don’t want to work in ballet or opera, or in things where people say: ‘Hey, keep that going, even if, in reality, nobody gives a damn about it any more’.
“With all due respect to the ballet and opera people”, he quickly added, anticipating an outcry.
“This is a personal invitation”
The creativity of the community managers of the major opera houses, both national and regional, flooded their Instagram and X feeds. Some invited the actor to attend a performance, while others took the opportunity to present their season, highlighting extracts illustrating their efforts to dust off the classics and demonstrate the vitality of this prestigious art form.
At the Paris Opera – the French benchmark, with two iconic halls: Palais Garnier and Bastille – they reviewed the filmography of Timothée Chalamet, currently in the running for the Oscars with Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, in which the actor steals the show in the role of Marty Reisman (1930-2012), ready to do anything to become the best table tennis player in history.
“Plot twist: ping-pong also exists in the opera,” the Parisian institution quipped on Friday, posting a video of a scene from John Adams’ Nixon in China, showing a game of table tennis, a symbol of the rapprochement between the United States and China in the early 1970s, at the height of the Cold War.
“Dear Timothée, […] we just wanted to reassure you that the singers, dancers and orchestras are continuing to move and surprise, and, funnily enough, the halls are filling up”, said the Opéra Grand Avignon (source in French).
“It even seems that people are coming to listen to voices without microphones, to see bodies tell stories without special effects, and to weep over music written 200 years ago. Strange times“, remarked the establishment in the south of France.
The Vienna State Opera even went out to meet the inhabitants of the Austrian capital to ask them if this art form was important to them.
In a sequence of vox-pops posted by the iconic institution, we see people nodding in agreement, some qualifying their remarks.
“It’s very generation-dependent: the older people are obviously going to enjoy it a bit more than us,” said one young person. “So I’m not really directly interested in it,” added another, “but I find it interesting when you see a bit of what’s presented on Instagram or something like that. But I’ve never been there myself.”
“Consider this your personal invitation to Vienna. Our stage is waiting for you”, concluded the opera teams.
A shower of applause, a curtain closing. La Scala, one of the most famous opera theatres in the world, chose to be laconic, replying with a message in its short video on Instagram: “Someone cares. And if you visit us, you might too.”
Sentiments shared by Rome’s opera house which appealed to the actor’s sporting affinities: “We know you’re a Roma fan, but we feel you should broaden your horizons and come and visit us: you’ll discover other passions_”_, the institution posted on X.
Others, like the Opéra de Lyon – housed in the building renovated by Jean Nouvel and where the troupe is currently rehearsing Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd – have put forward their attendance figures, with their audiences in droves hailing the profession’s “riposte”.
The Grand Théâtre du Liceu in Barcelona took the opportunity to announce the digital premiere of Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, which was broadcast this Sunday on the LiceuOPERA+ platform.
At Seattle’s Opera where Carmen is being shown, organisers took to Instagram to promote a 14% discount for the duration of the weekend. The number wasn’t chosen randomly. It was an allusion to the percentage that Chalamet estimated he would lose in terms of viewership because of his comments.
“Say bye to that Oscar”
Among the comments received by Euronews, a Parisian, Luís, mentioned a “social responsibility” and deplored that “a young film icon is making comments that do not help the opera, which is already in crisis.” For fans of the actor who have never been to the opera, “it’s the perfect excuse!”, he added.
While the tone of the institutional messages were mostly good humoured, some of the comments underneath the video of the actor’s performance don’t pull any punches.
“When no one remembers Timothée Chalamet, Mozart and Tchaikovsky will continue to work their magic”, mocked one user.
Another quipped: “Support your local theatres, man”.
Some go further: “Nobody cares anymore” – says the guy who just starred in a film about table tennis” or “Yeah, Wonka and Marty Supreme will probably be remembered, but not Swan Lake or The Marriage of Figaro.”
“La Scala surpasses Dune I and II in terms of sold out shows”.
And finally: “Well… you can kiss that Oscar goodbye”.
Don’t make the wrong enemy
In the great chorus of criticism and amused jibes, a few voices stand out.
Ben Glassberg, conductor of the Orchestre de l’Opéra Normandie Rouen, addressed his followers in a long video message posted on Instagram. The British conductor, who is almost the same age as Timothée Chalamet, said he did not “agree” with the “defensive” strategy being put in place “every time opera is attacked”.
In his view, the Franco-American actor “isn’t totally right, but he’s not totally wrong either”.
“There are a lot of people on the planet who really aren’t interested in opera, and to pretend that it’s a ‘superior’ art form, like if you don’t understand it, that’s your problem… Well, I think that’s a mistake,” he added.
“It’s absurd to say that everyone is touched by opera. I wish it were the case ,” the conductor told Euronews. “A friend summed it up very well: opera should be open to everyone, even if it doesn’t necessarily speak to everyone.”
“What worries me most is that opera remains an art reserved for the rich,” said Glassberg.
The role of professionals in the sector, he explains in his video, is not to exclaim: “Look, we’re playing to a sold-out crowd ,” but to listen and ask: “Perhaps there are people, many people, who don’t connect with it. And why? What can we do to change that?”
It’s all about exposure, he explains, citing the example of his children who started listening to opera “in the womb”.
“What we should be doing, rather than blaming Timothée Chalamet, is going after governments and asking, “Why are you cutting funding for music in schools?” Because in reality, no one will want to come to the opera in the future if no one has heard of it. No one will be able to understand it.
The conductor advises his peers to “channel the anger”, saying that “it’s not the problem” of Timothée Chalamet, who “can say whatever he wants in an interview”.
“We should be directing it at governments who are withdrawing funding from music and arts education, and also at those in the industry who are not trying to make opera accessible and diverse enough for everyone to feel represented”, he stressed.
In France, since the high school reform that came into effect in 2021, access to music has been restricted: students can now only choose a maximum of two optional subjects (languages, arts, physical education, etc.). As a result, a student may no longer study music as early as the second year of high school (age 15), especially since music options and specialisations are not offered in all schools and often depend on their resources.
Several French opera houses have suffered cuts in subsidies in recent years. The culture ministry, in the case of the Paris Opera (2024), or local authorities, as in Lyon (2021), have slashed budgets to meet other priorities.
What role do they play in our societies?
In an opinion published in the New York Times, dance critic Gia Kourlas agrees that the crux of the debate is not about questioning the intrinsic value of these art forms,”which are not really part of mainstream culture”, but about people’s perception of them and the ability of a living art form to “last” and reach an audience in the face of competition from films, for example.
In her view, the actor’s point was not that opera and ballet are “unimportant”, but rather that “the world struggles to grasp” their richness.
“Is he wrong?” wonders Gia Kourlas, adding that the controversy has been amplified by the fact that it was triggered by a film star.
“If a dancer said that a film had no impact, it would be like a tree falling in a forest”. And no one heard him.
This is an essential debate, and the solutions must come from the troupes themselves, as well as from society and political decision-makers, if opera and ballet are not to be relegated to a niche role and continue to provide thrills for a wider audience.
Euronews has contacted Timothée Chalamet, but has had no response at the time of publication.