‘He's running for Gen Z president': Timothée Chalamet’s expert understanding of the internet has cemented him as Gen Z’s quintessential movie star

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via @NAACPYOUNGBOY

Chalamet hit his first wave of major fame in 2017 with the double whammy of Call Me By Your Name, where he played a lovestruck teen experiencing a sexual awakening, and Ladybird, where he played the titular character’s arrogant, poser-cool love interest. The two films struck a chord with the online generation, speaking to the experience of adolescence, and he was poised as a new kind of teen heartthrob. Gone were the days of steroid-injected Marvel hunks, Gen Z preferred their movie stars willowy and delicate. Vogue even declared he was “Ushering in a new era for masculinity.”

via @tchalamet

However, the Wonka movie came and went with varying levels of ridicule, and Chalamet cozied up to Kylie Jenner, whose Kardashianness seemed at odds with his French poet intellectual image (however projected that image was). In this wake, Vulture announced “The End of Timothée Chalemet’s Heartthrob Era.” More than anything, though, it seemed like he was losing his edge of relatability, becoming the kind of star who does sub-par blockbusters and dates whoever is most famous. 

Whether by happenstance or a stealthy PR campaign to rehab his image, things have seemingly taken a turn for the better for Timothée. On a Sunday in October,, an event in Washington Square Park once again set the internet ablaze with Timmy fanfare. The Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest was the kind of event that could only be born by the internet. It was started as a semi-joke by Twitter user Anthony Po, with a slapdash flyer and a promise of a $50 prize. As hundreds of hopefuls and spectators showed up with floppy hair and a dream, none of them could have expected that the man himself would soon be among their ranks.  But he did. Chalamet himself made an appearance that would have made most A-Listers squirm in their boots. Somehow, though, this wasn’t all that surprising coming from him, whose embracing of the internet is part and parcel of his status as a Gen Z movie star. Countless other lookalike contests followed in its stead, but none of their designated celebrities showed face in person.

Via @PopBase

For his most recent film, A Complete Unknown, where his portrayal of Bob Dylan earned him a Golden Globe nomination and will likely get an Oscar nod, he embarked on the kind of press tour that’s more familiar to that of an influencer or an indie musician than is to an Oscar-nominated actor. He gave an interview to Brittany Broski, a Zoomer influencer who has built her brand on fandom, offering a mirror for the kinds of fans who made Chalamet famous. He riffed with Broski, poking fun at how people have embraced his look, saying, “It’s empowering the anemic.” He then gave an interview to Nardwuar (an icon in alternative music journalism history), where he gave a shoutout to everything from Lil B, to “The corporation known as Sonos,” to North America. He could pass for the energetic young busboy at your restaurant job, raised on TikTok and SoundCloud rappers.  

It would be irresponsible to talk about Timothee Chalamet’s internet presence without giving a “shoutout” (to use Timmy’s phrase) to Club Chalamet, his biggest fan page on Twitter. This somewhat bizarre account is the work of a 57-year-old professional with a penchant for overstepping while simultaneously being iconically quotable. Regarding a video of Chalamet with Jenner, she wrote, “If you're feeling distressed by the video, it's ok. But please take care of yourself.” Addressing the lookalike contest, she wrote, “This benefits me in ways you can't imagine.” Though Chalamet himself has no control over what Club Chalamet writes, her presence only heightens the “memeability” of his presence online. 

via @ClubChalamet

When Chalamet first rocketed to fame, a video circulated seemingly from a high school class project, where he raps about the bane of many students’ existence: statistics. As a generation with a deep and often regrettable digital footprint. It's the kind of video that most of us Zoomers have left behind. But instead of carefully burying the video once he became a household name, Timothée references it in interviews and even bolsters its continued relevance by coming up with impromptu raps on the red carpet. It’s no wonder that he’s embraced his generation’s strange, sometimes invasive, but ultimately lighthearted relationship with the internet. We all grew up on it, we’ve all had embarrassing moments on it, and we will use it to our advantage when we can. 

Via @xdpandone

Other stars of his generation have embraced the internet, but Chalamet does so on a level and scale that is hard to rival. He is no doubt one of the biggest box-office pulls of the current moment, certainly in his age bracket, so the fact that he hasn’t sealed himself off in a bubble of impenetrable fame like many of his ilk is notable. Of course, this relatability is key to his success. The branding behind his persona has been carefully crafted around this idea. He realizes that the internet has helped give him what he has, and he knows he has a responsibility to continue to feed it.  

As the film industry struggles to compete with streaming, TikTok, and the constant barrage of free entertainment that’s on our phones, the Gen Z audience only becomes more and more crucial to the survival of theatrical releases and movies in general. As long as Chalamet is on screen, though, there is a good chance Zoomers will watch it, if for no other reason than to see their internet buddy Timmy. 

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