Steven Spielberg appeared in the shadows Timothée Chalamet after the actor caused controversy by disparaging ballet and opera.
He appeared on Friday, March 13, a panel at the 2026 SXSW Conference and Festival, the director, 79, seems to be referring Marty Supreme The latest comments on the star virus, according to the Variety.
“At the end of a good movie experience, we are all united by a lot of emotions that we carry with us during the day, or at night. And there is nothing like that. It happens in movies, and in concerts,” said Spielberg when talking about the importance of movies. “And it happens in ballet and opera, by the way.”
He added, “We want that to last. We want that to last forever.”
Chalamet caused an uproar when a clip appeared of him CNN again Variety February 24 city hall with Matthew McConaughey it went viral.
“I love people, and I’ve done it myself, who go on a talk show and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to keep theater alive, we’ve got to keep this genre alive,’ and another part of me feels like people want to see it, like Barbielike Oppenheimer, they’ll go see it and go out of their way to talk about it and be proud of it,” said McConaughey, 56. “I don’t want to work in ballet, or opera, or things like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though, like, nobody cares about this anymore.’ Respect to all ballet and opera people out there. “
Acknowledging that his comments could come across as sarcastic, Chalamet then joked, “I just lost 14 cents to the viewer. I just snapped for no reason.”
Timothy Chalamet.
(Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)Chalamet has faced criticism for his take on the creative arts, and celebrities alike Justine Bateman again The Doja Cat among those who intended.
“The work of Ballet, Opera, and Theater has been around for longer than Film and TV,” Bateman, 60, wrote on X on March 9. “Every filmmaker should pray that [sic] a film/series lasts as long as the work of those who have endured the art of acting.”
Timothée Chalamet performing with the Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera and the Royal Ballet was not on anyone’s 2026 bingo card. Chalamet, 30, raised eyebrows after making offhand comments about the arts community during an on-stage interview with Variety, published last month. “Some people want instant gratification […]
For his part, Doja Cat criticized Chalamet for his opinion that “no one cares” about ballet and opera.
“Opera is 400 years old. Ballet is 500 years old,” Doja, 30, said in a TikTok video on March 8, mentioning Chalamet by name.
“Someone named Timothée Chalamet — a great guy, by the way — had the nerve to say on camera that nobody cares,” the “Paint the Town Red” rapper said. “I am sure that you can enter the opera field, the seats will be full, no one will say anything as the play continues because everyone respects it in this way.”
