CULTURE

Timothée Chalamet Will Likely Never Play a Superhero (Thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio)


Timothée Chalamet wearing a red scarf and halter top
Photo by Laurent Koffel/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

At this point in his career, you may be wondering if Leonardo DiCaprio has a secret to success. The 47-year-old actor’s accolades include an Academy Award, and he’s long been considered robbed of so many more. And while Leo is notoriously press-shy, Timothée Chalamet is here to tell you how the Hollywood heavyweight has come this far. In a new interview with British Vogue (which just anointed him the magazine’s first solo male cover star), the 26-year-old Bones and All star revealed that DiCaprio once gave him some sage advice about making it in Hollywood.

The guidance consists of just seven words: “No hard drugs and no superhero movies.” And since it doesn’t seem like Chalamet has ever taken after his addict character in Beautiful Boy, the actor has so far followed Leo’s advice since he doled it out in 2018. DiCaprio has also stayed true to his words: He’s never flirted with entering the DC and Marvel universes, and according to an interview he gave circa The Wolf of Wall Street—in which his character memorably dabbled in taking Quaaludes—he’s never touched drugs in his life. “I’d go to parties and it was there and, yeah, there’s that temptation,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Hollywood is a very volatile place where artists come in and they essentially say they want to belong. It’s incredibly vulnerable to be an actor and also get criticism at a young age when you’re formulating who you are. We’ve seen a lot of people fall victim to that, and it’s very unfortunate.”

In an accompanying video interview with British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, Chalamet looked ahead to where he hopes to be in the next 10 years. “Anywhere good,” he said with a shrug. “Hopefully life takes me where, you know, god sees fit.” He went on to share some advice of his own: “A wise man once said, ‘If you want god to laugh at your plan[s], say them aloud.’” Though for what it’s worth, we do know a few of his current plans: reprising his role in Dune and promoting his portrayal of a young Willy Wonka. And especially in the case of the latter, neither remotely fall into the superhero category.