If Timothée Chalamet really wants to win a best actor Oscar at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards, the “Marty Supreme” star better avoid making the big mistake that he made at the 97th annual ceremony: Walking the red carpet with girlfriend Kylie Jenner and having her seated beside him in the Dolby Theatre.
Hollywood industry expert Rob Shuter said that people were pretty shocked that Chalamet didn’t win for his performance as Bob Dylan in 2024’s “A Complete Unknown.” But Shuter said Jenner is the reason he didn’t because she’s a member of the Kardashian family and people in the “snobby” Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences look down on their reality TV stardom.
“Everybody thought he he was going to win (for “A Complete Unknown”). The studio thought he was going to win,” said Shuter, a former publicist, gossip columnist and editor of the American edition of “OK!” magazine who now publishes the Naughty But Nice Substack. Speaking on The Nerve podcast, Shuter said that the Oscars producers clearly expected Chalamet to win because they sat him in “the winner’s seat,” one of the seats in the front row of the Dolby Theatre.
When second-time winner Adrien Brody’s name was announced instead, “there was a shock, and there was almost like an investigation in Hollywood, almost like a failed political campaign, to uncover why this didn’t work,” Shuter said. “Why didn’t this work? What was it about this movie, this process, this campaign, that didn’t connect? And all the results, I’m told, pointed their finger at Kylie.”
Shuter’s comments come in the wake of conflicting reports last month over whether Chalamet had broken up with Jenner after 2½ years of dating. Much was made of the fact Chalamet did not accompany Jenner to the star-studded party thrown by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez for her mother Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday.
Chalamet and Jenner’s relationship has long been known to be on-off, but the Daily Mail quoted a source who said that the romance was definitely off and that the actor “had broken up” with the cosmetics entrepreneur. But a second source told the Daily Mail: “There is trouble in paradise, but they aren’t completely over.”
People magazine sources offered an even more optimistic take on the relationship, saying “They’re really in love.” People said Chalamet and Jenner had been apart in recent months because he was working in Europe, though they make “an effort to see each other every few weeks.”
Shuter told Maureen Callahan, the host of The Nerve, that he expected Chalamet and Jenner to be more “off” than “on” in the coming months as he promotes “Marty Supreme.” This hotly anticipated sports comedy-drama, due in theaters on Christmas Day, focuses on a unique character named Marty Mauser, who is an up-and-coming table tennis star in the 1950s.
“So they’ve gone back and forth many, many times,” Shuter said. “I think at the moment, they are in a down period. My reporting tells me they’re not over yet. They’ll get back together.”
But Callahan replied: “He’s such a wannabe serious artiste, and you can’t do that if you’re dating a Kardashian Jenner.” She added: “I think Timothée is gunning for an Oscar with this ping-pong movie, and I think he knows he’s not going to get it (if he’s dating Jenner).”
Shuter agreed, saying: “You might win a People’s Choice (award) if you date Kylie Jenner. … There’s still a real snobby elite group that runs the Oscars. They really are. These are not people who enjoy a “Mission: Impossible” or a “Wicked” or a bucket of popcorn. These are the real filmy types … and they do not take well to the Kardashians.”
“So even if he gets back with Kylie, if they end up (back) together, don’t expect her to be walking red carpets with him, which is what she did last time,” Shuter continued. “She started to pop up on carpets, and that’s the kiss of death in this snobby Oscar world.”
Reviews for “Marty Supreme,” and for Chalamet’s performance, have thus far been pretty stellar, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film, directed by Josh Safdie, was screened at the New York Film Festival in late October.
“If Marty Supreme exists to prove that Timothée Chalamet could have easily kicked it with the New Hollywood icons of the ’70s, the Harvey Keitels and the Gena Rowlandses, then point proven,” wrote Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent. “He’s truly one of our greatest talents.”
BBC’s Caryn James said that “Chalamet’s performance as Marty Mauser is so engaging that you can put his offscreen antics aside.” It’s not clear if James was referring to his Kardashian association when she mentioned Chalamet’s “antics,” but she also praised his performance in last year’s “A Complete Unknown” and said the film “Marty Supreme” is “as fresh, funny and exhilarating” as Chalamet is in the movie.
Oscar predictions at Gold Derby show that Chalamet is the no. 2 contender to win the Oscar at the March 15, 2026 ceremony — just behind Leonardo DiCaprio in “One Battle After Another.”
Instead of parading Jenner around on the red carpet at awards ceremonies in the coming months, Chalamet should bring his mother, Callahan said. “That’s really good advice,” Shuter laughs, saying Chalamet could show the Oscar voters that he’s someone who loves his mother. He also suggested that Chalamet buy a dog.