Although he’s a true movie star today, some may forget that Timothée Chalamet has a number of TV credits from his early days in the business. He has appeared on shows like Law & Order, Royal Pains, and, perhaps most notably, Homeland.
But in a recent interview with Vogue, the 29-year-old had a very blunt response when asked if he’d ever consider a return to the world of television: “No.” And that was that.
Timmy is obviously entitled to his own preferences for his career path; however, his firm stance on the matter certainly raised eyebrows. On X, one user wrote: “when an actor says no to TV it reeks of ego. You’re a performer, you should want to challenge yourself and do different mediums.”
Others highlighted that some of the film industry’s greatest stars, like Viola Davis and Meryl Streep, have achieved huge success in television. “There is a reason the limited series section at the Emmys is always full of Oscar winners/nominees,” someone suggested. And they’re not wrong — the E in EGOT has to come from somewhere!
“This is a little misconception about actors and acting: You can have a cushy job on a TV show — if you don’t give a fuck about your work, it can be a great lifestyle,” he said. “You’re making high-six-figures, maybe low-seven-figures. And you’re just showing up.”
Timothée then compared this kind of TV work to the dedicated approach he takes to movie-making, saying: “If you give a fuck about what you’re doing, these are long ass days. These are 14-hour days, six days a week, sometimes…I wanna feel that grit…Why do this if you’re not gonna go as hard as possible?”
In light of his recent reaction to Vogue’s TV question, Timothée’s past comments about TV work have started doing the rounds again — and it’s fair to say that people are divided over the point he was trying to get across…
On one side of the debate, there are people who took Timothée’s comments to be discrediting the work of TV actors, by him seemingly suggesting that someone who doesn’t “give a fuck about [their] work” would be more likely to take on that kind of “cushy,” low-stakes job.
However, plenty of others have come to Timmy’s defence, suggesting that his comments are more of a reflection of how hard all actors have to work if they really do care about their craft.
I can definitely see both sides of the debate. But, IMO, I think it was just an unfortunately clunky way of expressing how hard acting is for anyone who really cares about the job, regardless of whether it’s TV or film. LMK your take in the comments!