For his work in the 2018 film “Beautiful Boy” alongside everyone’s favorite clueless boss, Steve Carell (“The Office”), Timothée Chalamet was nominated for awards at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and also the BAFTA awards. The American biographical drama based on the memoirs of David Scheff and his son, Nic Scheff, received positive critiques from reviewers as well as pushed Chalamet even further into the spotlight.
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This 23-year-old “Beautiful Boy” is quickly becoming a teen heartthrob, even after playing the drug-addicted teenager in the film directed by Felix Van Groeningen. His portrayal of other characters in recent films as well as his striking facial features and curly hair have thrust him onto posters above beds everywhere.
If you only recognize him from “Beautiful Boy” or not at all, here are 4 other great films that will make you fall in love with Chalamet’s sleepy disposition and sharp jawline.
1. “Miss Stevens”
In the 2016 American drama “Miss Stevens,” Rachel Stevens (played by Lily Rabe, the “American Horror Story” queen herself) is an English teacher who takes three of her high school students to a drama competition in California. Chalamet plays Billy, the quietest in the group of students led by Margot (“Riverdale” Lili Reinhart) and Sam (Anthony Quintal).
The film focuses on Rachel’s grief after losing her mother and on Billy’s struggles with a behavioral disorder as well as expressing his feelings about his medications to his parents and psychiatrist. The unlikely duo confide in each other and bond over their lack of friends, while Margot struggles with her monologue from “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
In addition to focusing on their student-teacher relationship, another of the film’s main topics is the importance of having art programs in public schools. Toward the beginning of the film, the audience learns that the high school’s funding for the theater program is limited (possibly because they only have three students).
As they leave for the competition, Rachel is hopeful that one of her pupils will win and bring home an award that will inspire more funding for the arts.
Chalamet said in an interview that this theme hit close to home for him because, like his character, he would never would have been exposed to acting if he had not been accepted into the high school he attended, which valued artistic talent over academic scores.
At the time of filming, however, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Chalamet’s old school, was considering changing their acceptance policies.
While the film is a slow moving and simple indie flick, “Miss Stevens” shows Chalamet’s acting range as he switches from pure, unadulterated teenage angst to a dramatic, mature reading of a monologue from “Death of a Salesman.”
2. “Hot Summer Nights”
“Hot Summer Nights” is simultaneously a coming-of-age film and a crime drama. Although that might be a surprising combination, they entwine together while following the story of Daniel, played by none other than Chalamet, who gets in over his head dealing marijuana while staying with his aunt in Cape Cod over the summer.
Daniel starts selling drugs after a chance encounter with Hunter (Alex Roe) while working at a convenience store. The two becomes business partners and starting a booming, illegal business, and Daniel falls in love with Hunter’s sister, McKayla (Maika Monroe from “It Follows”), supposedly the hottest girl in town.
The debut film of writer and director Elijah Bynum is visually stimulating while capturing the feel of bored teenagers during a hot and sweaty summer on the East Coast.
Chalamet’s charming performance of the awkward teenage drug dealer steals away all the attention from other aspects of the film.
3. “Ladybird”
While this is the first film that made me fall for Chalamet, his character in “Ladybird” leaves a lot to be desired, while also reminding me of every single brilliant, artsy yet egotistical stoner that I crushed on from a distance in high school.
The 2017 film “Ladybird” tells the story of Christine, a senior at a Catholic school (Saoirse Ronan from “Brooklyn”) who nicknamed herself “Ladybird,” as she struggles with crushes, her friendships and her relationship with her mother, a realist that is unable to understand her daughter, whose head is caught in the clouds.
Chalamet’s character, Kyle, is one of Ladybird’s classmates, who catches her eye while casually reading Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and smoking a cigarette at the café where she works.
As her relationship develops with the floppy-haired, bass-playing bad boy type, he reveals his distrust of cell phones (because the government is listening, of course) and his hatred of money.
Although every character in the film nominated for four Academy Awards is dynamic and interesting, no one has reminded me this much of the guy from high school that I still find insanely hot but wish I could forget.
4. “Call Me by Your Name”
Based on Andrê Aciman’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name, “Call Me By Your Name” chronicles the romance between 17-year-old Elio (Chalamet) and 24-year-old Oliver (Armie Hammer) in 1980s Italy.
Oliver, a Jewish American scholar, is a house guest in Elio’s home for six weeks during the summer while revising a book manuscript with Elio’s father. With Chalamet’s angelic features and Hammer’s classic handsomeness, the two tell the story of a beautiful and simple first love.
The film is sensual yet heartbreaking, so, if that’s not your cup of tea, maybe you should sit this one out. If you don’t at the very least tear up a bit at some point in the film, I’m not sure I can call you a human being.
Chalamet was nominated for best actor at the Academy Awards for his role as Elio, and the film was also nominated for best picture alongside “Ladybird.” In addition to critical praise and awards, the film asserted Chalamet’s image as a seriously talented young actor, as well as an indie teen heartthrob.
So, basically, what I’m saying is that you need to binge watch all these films if you haven’t seen them yet because you are really missing out on a beautiful and talented young actor.
