Meanwhile, “Sweet Tea” Timothée Chalamet Is Having a Great Time in China
The weather on America’s East Coast has finally warmed up, but America’s high-screen-time community spent much of the weekend indoors, quibbling about two-week-old comments Timothée Chalamet made comparing promoting films to the promotion of ballet and opera productions. Chalamet may have even lost some Instagram followers amid the outrage cycle, but he appears to be making up for it in new followers on the Chinese social media site Weibo. He’s over in the Middle Kingdom promoting the local premiere of his film Marty Supreme—and wearing fresh, head-to-toe Gucci to boot.
With $162.3 million already in the bank, Marty Supreme is film studio A24’s highest-grossing film of all time. Despite that success, Chalamet isn’t skimping on his trademark enthusiastic promotion. He’s joined Weibo and Rednote to document his journey: playing ping pong with locals, shopping in souvenir shops, serving tofu on the street, and even signing fan-made stuffed animals of himself (wearing that iconic Haider Ackerman red jumpsuit) driving a BMW. If you don’t have a Weibo or Rednote account, don’t worry. Chalamet’s American fan accounts are of course keeping his stateside viewers informed of all his Chinese activities. They culminated, today, in a Beijing red-carpet premiere.
Chalamet wore a custom tuxedo from Gucci with a pair of tiny shades. He kept it casual with a silk jersey v-neck T-shirt underneath. While the outfit wasn’t on the recent Gucci runway that marked new creative director Demna’s debut at the house, it echoed the collection’s pared-back but impactful vibes.
On the carpet, Chalamet accepted gifts from fans, including a banner that declared him “King of the Silver Screen” and “Our Sweat Tea.” (Chinese fans have a tradition of giving their favorite Western celebrities nicknames: Lana Del Rey is “Thunder Sister,” Leonardo DiCaprio’s is “Little Plum,” and Chalamet is known as “Sweat Tea.”
Back in America, the debate rages on over Chalamet’s opera-and-ballet comments. For the record, his quotes were somewhat taken out of context: the actor was discussing his preference for a populist approach to promoting movies rather than guilt-tripping audiences to save cinema for the sake of rescuing an art form in the midst of cultural, economic, and technological shifts. At the very least, he was putting his money where his mouth was by taking to the streets of China to promote Marty Supreme.
Besides, when your own country has turned its back on you, you can always look to your foreign fans for support. Ask the Metropolitan Opera about that.
