Timothee Chalamet might win an Oscar but the cringe will turn everyone off

For most actors, winning an Oscar is the Hollywood holy grail, as they long for the ‘Academy Award-winning’ descriptor to appear before their name in all future trailers.

But what happens when you’re Timothee Chalamet and Oscars buzz is clouded by dwindling public opinion? Is it really worth winning one if the world now thinks you’re… a big cringe?

The American-French movie star got his big breakthrough in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name in 2017.

He was not only catapulted to internet heartthrob status but also went on to secure roles in the industry’s most anticipated flicks in the coming years, from Little Women (2019) and Dune (2021) to Wonka (2023) and A Complete Unknown (2024).

Chalamet already has two Oscar nominations to his name, both for Call Me by Your Name and his recent portrayal of Bob Dylan, but it’s his 2025 depiction of Marty Supreme that critics are backing to allow him to lift the trophy.

Directed by Josh Safdie, the sports drama shows Chalamet like never before as 1960s ping pong prodigy Marty Mauser, following his quest to become the world’s best table tennis player.

To say he’s embodied the hardbat champion – loosely based on the real career trajectory of Marty Reisman – would be an understatement, donning windbreakers emblazoned with his name and his retro glasses in interviews – and he’s made no secret of how great he reckons he is in the role.

As critics dub it Chalamet’s most intense performance to date, he, quite frankly, agrees, having suggested that Marty Supreme is his best acting yet after giving ‘top-of-the-line performances’ for the last ‘seven, eight’ years.

It’s a remark that quickly garnered backlash, as Chalamet was criticised for ‘arrogance’ and suddenly had once doe-eyed fans wincing out of discomfort.

Consequently, the A-lister has been forced to defend his attitude, stressing that he’s made such quips to channel the ‘spirit’ of his alter ego.

The 29-year-old told IndieWire: ‘This is the spirit of Marty, and I feel like this is ultimately an original film at a time when original movies aren’t really put out.

‘It’s a movie about the pursuit of a dream. I’m leaving it on the field. Whether it’s the merch or the Zoom or the media appearances, I’m trying to get this out in the biggest way possible. In the spirit of Marty Mauser.’

Basically, he’s aware that people think he’s going overboard during the movie’s promo tour, which is something we’re pretty well-acquainted with these days, off the back of Wicked’s highly emotional press run.

And PR stunts certainly aren’t a new concept in film promo, but Timmy’s here to make as bold a statement as he can with the story of an unlikely hustler from the Lower East Side determined to achieve global greatness.

In his original self-assured comments, Chalamet had added: ‘I don’t want people to take it for granted. I don’t want to take it for granted. This is really some top-level s**t.’

He also made ambiguous remarks on Good Morning America, which were inferred by some as a prediction that he will win an Oscar next year.

‘I want the movie to succeed,’ he declared. ‘I want everything to win.

‘The real truth is that, Marty Supreme, I feel confident to the degree that by next summer… I’m confident I know what it’s gonna be by next summer.’

Despite this all clearly just being A Bit, Chalamet might want to tread carefully, as social media sleuths are taking no prisoners when it comes to critiquing his behaviour.

In fact, by feigning self-importance to capture Marty’s essence, he’s deterring some from watching the film to begin with.

On Reddit, hundreds of cinephiles have said the whole thing feels slightly ‘weird’, with Boss452 saying: ‘You’d think this was some mega pop album instead of a sports drama from A24.’

‘I think my confusion or issue is he was this same “persona” on his last movie tour so I assume its just the way he acts. He isn’t so old that there is a trove of interviews of him acting wildly different so what may seem like a stretch and an act, doesn’t feel that way to me,’ muses Ok-Chain8552.

On how rapidly Chalamet has changed their perception of the film entirely, Dizzy-Ease4193 writes: ‘This press run went from endearing to provocative to downright exhausting.’

Coldliketherockies predicts that everything ‘going on’ around the movie ‘might hurt it’, while Annatarshairbow says frankly: ‘This press tour is the reason I’m not gonna see this movie, I’m tired of it already.’

‘It’s interesting. The press tour put the film on my radar because now I know it actually exists and is coming out. On the other hand, his behaviour turns me off completely. I wonder if he’s flying too close to the sun here,’ ponders Ith228 similarly.

Not all the feedback is cynical, though, as plenty have rendered Chalamet’s cocky persona ‘amusing’, with Peridot1708 asking whether fans only set themselves up for disappointment to begin with: ‘Was he ever a “soft artisty boy” or were his fans just projecting that image on him?’

‘Can’t wait when people next decade tell how actually they always thought social media was unfair to Chalamet,’ Live_Angle4621 adds.

Still, it’s not entirely impossible to suggest that, even if he does score an Oscar, it could be to Chalamet’s own detriment, as past examples show.

In 2013, Anne Hathaway won the coveted best supporting actress gong as Fantine in Les Misérables, but instead of propelling her to worldwide sweetheart status, it led to her becoming somewhat of an international hate symbol.

She was widely mocked online for being seemingly ‘obnoxious’ and ‘annoying’ and basically wanting to win too much.

While the Devil Wears Prada lead has been defended in the years since, as everyone looks back and goes… “Wait, what was that even about?”, the damage remained done for some time, with Hathaway herself confessing she wasn’t happy after winning the accolade.

After the ceremony, she Googled herself only to find one of the top search results was an article titled ‘Why does everyone hate Anne Hathaway?’. She even went on to lose roles because film bosses were ‘so concerned about how toxic [her] identity had become online’, crediting Sir Christopher Nolan for essentially saving her reputation.

Hathaway has certainly restored public faith, of course, but with even the most die-hard Chalamet fans sticking one leg out the door, we have to hope history won’t repeat itself because, as it stands, he’s on thin ice – even if he is just having a bit of fun.

Especially given how Chalamet spent seven years trying to master table tennis before production on Marty Supreme even began and devoted all his efforts to becoming this character in real life, it’d be a shame for internet trolls to land the final kill shot against his promising career.

On how his reputation might look going forward, Graham Fulton, co-founder of Conic Film, tells Metro: ‘From an industry point of view, Timothee Chalamet is a marketer’s dream. His campaigning is second to none, and he understands instinctively what it takes to sell a film, committing fully to press in a way few actors of his generation do.

‘He comes to interviews in service of the work, from the way he talks about the project to how he presents himself, keeping the focus firmly on the film at a time when many press appearances drift into personality-led entertainment. That approach is already paying off, generating exceptional attention for a film with a comparatively modest budget.’

Fulton adds that we’ve seen similar incidents before, citing Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker press run as an example of a time when awards-season scrutiny briefly overwhelmed the conversation.

‘Once the work is seen, the noise tends to fade, though. These moments are often remembered less as turning points and more as examples of how harshly we judge actors in the middle of an awards cycle.’

‘Chalamet’s confidence won’t land with everyone,’ he acknowledges. ‘But it reads as belief in his own craft rather than arrogance.

‘In the long run, it’s the performance, not the press tour, that’s likely to define how this moment is remembered.’

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