Timothée Chalamet Reflects on Oscar Buzz and That Peach Scene
On Christmas Eve eve, days shy of his 22nd birthday, Timothée Chalamet dials my Sydney line directly from his home in New York.
"Hi, this is Timothée," he says, his friendly voice devoid of any pretention one might expect from someone Pedro Almodovar just declared "the great revelation of 2017".
The Call Me By Your Name star is currently sitting atop virtually every "Best of" list for his vulnerable portrayal of Elio: a precocious teen who falls for Oliver (Armie Hammer), a doctoral student spending the summer at his family's Italian villa in 1983.
"Seeing a young person painted in such a way that I hadn't seen — complex, contradictory, and layered — I just felt like I had to leap at the opportunity to play that kind of role," says Chalamet, who launched his career with a recurring part on Homeland and played Matthew McConaughey's son in Interstellar.
Call Me By Your Name, a sensual film based on the 2007 novel by André Aciman, afforded Chalamet what he calls the "terrific challenge" of spending a month and a half in Italy before shooting to learn guitar, piano, and Italian.
It also required him to film a sex scene with a peach.
"You just try to do it as honestly as possible," he says with an audible shrug, reflecting on the seminal scene that involves Elio finishing inside a peach, which Oliver then discovers and tastes.
When I point out that sex with fruit is having a bit of a moment on screen this year (See: Tiffany Haddish's infamous Girls Trip grapefruiting scene), Chalamet laughs and says, "Oh yeah, and the ultimate predecessor is American Pie."
But the impact of Call Me By Your Name goes far beyond the erotic.
"The reaction that we've gotten has been really extraordinary," says Chalamet. "The most rewarding aspect of which is when people really resonate with the film and feel like it touches them in some way viscerally."
That warm reception also includes a leading actor Golden Globe nomination for Chalamet, placing him alongside venerable greats Tom Hanks, Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington, and Gary Oldman.
"That's totally surreal because every one of those actors on that list I've studied at some point beyond enjoying their films," he says. "Their work has all inspired me in some capacity — certainly Denzel has been in plays that I've seen on Broadway that have wowed me more than any other live performance."
When asked if he's let himself think about the very high chance he's about to become an Oscar nominee in January, he humbly sidesteps.
"No, no. I'm really just starting out, and what this film has already been to me… the experience of shooting it and the reaction we've gotten, it's already been incredible," he says.
"Anything beyond that would be gratefully appreciated. But I'm just starting out. I don't want to get ahead of myself."
Call Me By Your Name is in Australian cinemas from Boxing Day.
