It might seem a bit premature to be doing a best roles tribute to Timothée Chalamet, given that he’s only just reached the age of 26 today (December 27th). But in his time working in both film and television, the actor has quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with, taking on complex and nuanced roles to which other younger actors might have only been able to give a surface-level performance.
It of course takes a great director to draw out his best qualities, as seen with Wes Anderson in The French Dispatch, Denis Villeneuve in Dune, and Greta Gerwig in two of her films. But, even when playing a very small role in a large ensemble, Chalamet has a way of taking what he’s given and making the very most out of it — earning acclaim often by simply bringing a very mature approach to characters lacking in maturity.
Many of Chalamet’s roles so far have leaned on his youth, but one of the reasons why he’s such an exciting actor is that he’s able to craft such different types of young men, sometimes out of very little. However his career evolves over the next 10-15 years, it’ll be a thrill to witness it.
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For now, here are 10 of his most outstanding performances (so far) — three of them coming out just this year, increased evidence that the future looks bright for him.
— Liz Shannon Miller
10. Homeland (2012)
For someone who has amassed quite the impressive collection of film roles at his age, it’s fun to remember that his first breakout role was on television. Chalamet appeared in eight episodes of the Showtime terrorism drama as Finn Walden, the too-privileged son of the Vice-President, who drew Dana Brody (Morgan Saylor) into a whole mess of trouble. Finn and his related storylines aren’t exactly remembered fondly by Homeland fans, but he did what he could with some sometimes silly material. — L.S.M.
9. Interstellar (2014)
A very early role for Chalamet, and not a huge one in the grand scope of the film — but as the younger version of Joe’s (Matthew McConaughey) son Tom, he gets to establish the character’s abrasive nature, as created by the unfeeling world into which he was born. If you’ve forgotten his 10 minutes or so of screen time, that’s totally understandable — there’s a lot going on in this movie, after all. But his work is just one of the many, many small details that makes this epic film work. — L.S.M.
8. Beautiful Boy (2018)
The film itself is an incredibly tough watch, but that’s a credit to the raw, heartbreaking performances of Chalamet and Steve Carell. As the titular child of the film, whose descent into drug addiction is covered in relentless detail, Chalamet elevates what has been and could be after-school special material with an attention to detail that brings great depth to the struggles that the real-life young man dealt with. — L.S.M.
7. Don’t Look Up (2021)
However you might feel about Adam McKay‘s divisive satire about what would happen if humanity faced a global crisis (you know, another one), there’s no denying that Chalamet delivers a hilarious against-type performance. As Yule, a skater boi who befriends Kate (Jennifer Lawrence) in the second half of the film, he plays into the stereotypes, but manages to bring out extra nuance to the character’s unexpected depths as the story comes crashing towards that ending. — L.S.M.
6. The King (2019)
2019’s exploration of young King Henry was an interesting exercise in the historical for our Timmy. Not many other actors could pull off the stilted, medieval dialogue, or the bowl cut, as well as he did. Not every part of David Michod and Joel Edgerton’s Shakesperean adaptation works here, but Chalamet’s performance ensures that this won’t be forgotten in the corners of Netflix’s expansive catalog. — Mary Siroky
5. The French Dispatch (2021)
Chalamet’s quirky manner of speaking feels so suited for a Wes Anderson movie that it’s a bit of a surprise the crossover didn’t happen until this year. Anderson’s anthological film features Chalamet’s chapter smack in the middle. He’s pitch-perfect as a young French student in over his head in a student revolution, stubborn, curious, and immature all at once. Right now, many of his roles seem to be centered on young men caught between the safety of adolescence and the responsibility that comes with adulthood, and it’s a space he inhabits authentically. — M.S.
4. Lady Bird (2017)
In a film chock-full of perfect dialogue, Chalamet nearly runs away with the whole thing as Kyle Scheible, the detached object of Lady Bird’s (Saoirse Ronan) misguided affection. Every single line is a goldmine: “I haven’t lied in two years”; “I don’t like money, I’m trying to live by bartering alone.” It’s his delivery, though, that captures the ultra-specific strain of young man Greta Gerwig was working to paint, and also helps the audience understand how Lady Bird could fall for someone so awful.
Moviegoers everywhere (fine, this writer in particular) reflect fondly on the moment he and his curls showed up on screen, hand-rolled cigarette in hand. Lady Bird also kicked off the Saoirse x Timothee renaissance, one we hope doesn’t end any time soon. — M.S.
3. Little Women (2019)
Chalamet had big shoes to fill when he took on the role of Laurie in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women — Christian Bale was beloved in the role in the 1994 telling of the March sisters’ story. Thanks to Gerwig’s time-jumping script (which presents Laurie and Amy as “endgame” early on) and, presumably, the familiarity that comes with reuniting with previous collaborators (Ronan and Gerwig in particular), Laurie doesn’t just feel desirable, but accessible, too. There’s something modern and familiar in the way he interacts with the other characters in the story that makes a 19th-century story feel relevant. — M.S.
2. Dune (2021)
The acting challenge of starring Dune cannot be understated: Beautiful sets and costumes can do a lot of the heavy lifting, stunt doubles can make it look like you know how to fight, but for a wild sci-fi story like this to work, the people have to feel real and grounded and relatable. Fortunately, Chalamet nails this aspect of the film and beyond, capturing everything that makes Paul Atreides both an engaging and human protagonist while also capturing the more mystical elements of the story. Dune would have probably worked as a movie, if we didn’t like Paul as a character. But because we do like him, the movie thrives. — L.S.M.
1. Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Chalamet’s critical breakthrough arrived in the form of 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, a devastating, tender, pastel-toned daydream. The closing shot (which features him crying into the fireplace on a snowy winter night) is what many people might remember as his defining moment, but his performance as Elio is stunning throughout. The novel from which the story was adapted features a detailed internal dialogue, one Chalamet had to communicate wordlessly in the film. From the bike rides to the conversation with Michael Stuhlbarg in the library or the train station sequence, he performs in a way that betrayed his age at the time of filming. — M.S.
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Tagged: Alternative Music, Call Me By Your Name, Dune, FEATURES, Film, Lady Bird, Lists, Little Women, music blog, The French Dispatch, Timothée Chalamet, TV