A Response to Timothée Chalamet From a Professional, Full Time Opera Singer

To begin, let’s lay out some statistics real quick for Mr. Chalamet...

1. The Paris Opera Ballet was founded in 1669. The United States as a country didn’t exist yet. Opera and ballet are older than most modern nations.

2. The Metropolitan Opera alone typically sells 700,000+ tickets per season, with their Live in HD broadcasts (streamed IN MOVIE THEATRES,) reach 2,000+ cinemas in 70+ countries and millions of viewers.

3. The Nutcracker generates about 40% of annual revenue for many ballet companies. The global ballet market is estimated at hundreds of millions annually in ticket sales alone.

I am the same age as Timothée. I am a massive lover of film, really enjoy creating content surrounding film and media, making my own short films, but also sing full time as an opera singer. My work spans classical operas and symphonic works at places in the United States such as Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as, commercial voice over, musical theatre, and film soundtracks. I have always loved the arts as a whole since I was a child, and frankly want to say to Mr. Chalamet: your precious art form wouldn’t exist without the historical implications and success of other art forms. Art is art. Why are we gatekeeping and shaming other art forms?

I have trained over ten years to have the career I have, for which I am eternally grateful. I would LOVE to see Timothée Chalamet attempt to project his voice over a full orchestra to 3,500 seats, or dance on pointe...just saying. 🤷

Nevertheless, it is important to me to play devil's advocate as well, because as much as I hate to admit it, Chalamet is not totally wrong in his claims. Ballet and opera are antiquated art forms. Movies are absolutely more popular and for every fifty to one hundred movie theatres, there is one opera or ballet house. While live art and theatre still remains thriving and alive, there is a heavy effort, especialy in the United States with no government funding, to keep these art forms accessible and affordable in comparison to film. His larger point in this interview was discussing keeping film alive, which is also a very valid and important argument. However, his callous delivery, tone, and inappropriate wording of whatever he was trying to land did not land. 

This is a tragic topic to discuss, but an important one. Chalamet is quick to flippantly dismiss older forms of art, without realizing the looming threat that faces his own job and career.

Film was once considered the future of storytelling. While opera and ballet were seen as old elite art forms that would fade away. But in an AI-heavy future, film can be generated. Live performance cannot. Ironically, the oldest forms of art might end up being the most resistant to AI and tech change.

The global AI film/video market is projected to exceed $100 billion by the 2030s.

Studios are already experimenting with AI-generated background actors.

However, roadway, ballet, and opera rely on unionized performers physically present in a theater, making automation much harder.

Why was this such a controversial take, what is our response, and how do we move forward?

When someone, in this case a film star, has a platform to voice opinions for millions to see and digest, of course people might say statements or share opinions not everyone agrees with. The issue with Timothée’s statement is it is objectively incorrect and also damaging to other art forms that not only pair nicely with film, but are direct INFLUENCES on film and the history of film. In a world where tech, war, political tensions, and recessions are taking over, art is already struggling. The last thing we need is for people to stop attending live art just because some thirty year old isn't interested in it.

So what do we do? We buy tickets to the opera and ballet. We recognize and appreciate those art forms in congruence with and separate from film. We also continue to see film and support local cinema. We consume art and challenge Chalamet’s statement by enjoying all forms of art the world has to offer, and keeping it alive, versus gate keeping, shaming, or making fun of something we don’t understand or we can’t do ourselves.