Emma Stone and Timothée Chalamet Bond Over Getting Rejected by Tim Burton
At this point in the careers of Emma Stone and Timothée Chalamet, two of the biggest actors of their generation and, quite frankly, of Hollywood, the Oscar-worthy roles probably just fall right into their laps. But that wasn’t always the case for the pair, who have both been acting from a young age, as they shared in a recent “Actors on Actors” conversation for Variety.
Somehow, there is one director who passed up both Chalament and Stone for roles—and neither of them has really gotten over it. While talking through his career trajectory, Chalamet offered up the fact that he was rejected for several major parts before landing Call Me by Your Name, one of which came via Tim Burton. “I went up for all these things, and tested for Spider-Man and I didn’t get it, and a Tim Burton movie, too, and these things weren’t happening.”
“Tim Burton’s a crusher,” Stone replied, before sharing her own story of the famed director’s rejection. “Oh, my God, when I auditioned for Alice in Wonderland—and not getting a Tim Burton movie is really devastating.” But, the Oscar winner quickly added, “This is a pretty esoteric conversation; working at all is fantastic—you’re exactly right.”
Stone and Chalamet to Burton right now, probably:
Chalamet also described another minor letdown he’d experienced, after starring in Interstellar—even though he’d landed that part. “I really had no career at this point, so I was, like, the fraud a little bit. And I saw it, and I loved it, but then I went home to my dad and wept for an hour,” he said. “Because I just figured my part was bigger.… They didn’t even cut anything.”
These days, Stone and Chalamet likely don’t have to try too hard to land those plum roles. Stone’s latest, in The Favourite, has all of the makings of an Oscar contender, as does Chalamet’s in Beautiful Boy. Plus, they’ve done the modern rarity of becoming A-list actors without succumbing to blockbuster franchises. Chalamet is especially proud of that now, as he revealed to Stone. “I feel such pride for Call Me by Your Name and Lady Bird and the fact that we made those on shoestring budgets,” he said. “I went in for Spider-Man and those things, and I didn’t get them. Those are prepackaged, you’ll-be-famous-after-this kind of things. Call Me by Your Name and Lady Bird, they really weren’t. We were making art-house movies. I think that’s what helps me when I get stopped: It’s about the movies.”
Related: Emma Stone Was Surprised With a “Clue” Murder Mystery Birthday Party
