While stressing the importance of movie theatres and shared experiences in the arts, Steven Spielberg took a dig at Timothee Chalamet, referencing his recent comment about ballet and opera
-1773507102324_d.png "Steven Spielberg reacts to Timothee Chalamet's opera and ballet remark: 'Want to sustain that forever'")
Steven Spielberg
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has weighed in on the ongoing debate sparked by actor Timothee Chalamet over comments about ballet and opera, highlighting the enduring community experience of performing arts and cinema.
Speaking during a keynote conversation at South by Southwest Film and TV Festival, Spielberg reflected on the importance of movie theatres and shared experiences in the arts, while also making a reference to the recent controversy surrounding Chalamet's remarks.
Steven Spielberg takes a dig at Timothee Chalamet's comments
While acknowledging the growing role of streaming platforms and noting his own collaborations with Netflix, the director stressed that the traditional theatre experience remains unique.
"But for me, the real experience comes when we can influence a community to congregate into a strange, dark space where all of us are strangers. At the end of a really good movie experience, we are all united with a whole bunch of feelings and that we walk into the daylight with, or into the nighttime with. And there's nothing like that. It happens in movies and concerts. And it happens in ballet and opera, by the way."
His remark drew laughter and applause from the audience. Spielberg continued, "And we want that to be sustained. We want that to go on forever."
"I don't want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.'," Chalamet said.
"All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there", he quickly added.
Chalamet had been talking to Matthew McConaughey at the University of Texas in February about efforts to preserve cinema. "I don't want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.'," Chalamet said. "All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there", he added. He joked that the broadcast might lose 14 cents in viewership due to his remarks.
How Doja Cat reacted to Timothee Chalamet's comments
“Hey, by the way, opera is 400 years old, ballet is 500 years old”, Doja Cat said in a TikTok video. “Somebody named Tim-oh-tay Cha-lam-et had the nerve, big guy, by the way, had the nerve to say, on camera, that nobody cares about it”.
The Grammy-winning artiste went on to highlight the etiquette and respect surrounding ballet and opera.
“I’m sure you can walk into an opera theater right now, seats will be filled out and nobody’s saying a word as the performance is going because everybody has that much respect for it”, she said. “There is an etiquette around opera. There is etiquette around ballet. It is amazing. It’s an amazing theater medium. It’s f****** beautiful and people go there everyday to the dance studio”.
Doja Cat added, “It doesn’t matter if the industry is having a tough time at any time, which a lot of industries have a tough time. Your industry has a tough time, my industry has a tough time. Doesn’t mean people don’t care about it. People care. The dancers care, the singers care, the audience cares. There’s still an audience”.
She concluded with a message for Chalamet, saying, “People give a f***. You show up in a nice outfit. You sit the f*** down and shut the f*** up. That’s the usual etiquette around those things. Maybe learn something from that”.
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