Fine young cannibals
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET HAS AN APPETITE FOR LOVE IN ROAD TRIP HORROR MOVIE
As Timothée Chalamet continues his meteoric rise through Hollywood, there’s one thing he is surprised to see on his acting resumé at age 26.
“I didn’t think the facepaint-less KISS was ever going to be a part of my work, ever,” the Oscar nominee says chuckling in a video chat from Rome.
But in Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, a road-trip horror movie about a pair of lovestruck cannibals, Chalamet rocking out to KISS’S Lick It Up gives the brutal drama a rare moment of levity.
Guadagnino’s adaptation of Camille Deangelis’s young adult novel centres on Maren (Waves’ Taylor Russell), a teenager who has been abandoned by her father (André Holland), over her propensity for eating human flesh. As she heads out in search of her mother, Maren dodges some of her kin (including a creepy guy played by Mark Rylance) before striking up a romantic relationship with fellow “eater” named Lee (Chalamet).
Ostracized from normal society, Maren and Lee decide to hit the road together in search of blood-soaked happiness in 1980s middle-america.
Since its world première at the 79th Venice Film Festival
in September, where it received a rapturous 10-minute standing ovation, Bones and All has captivated audiences winning the Silver Lion for best direction and scoring a best picture nod at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards.
The cannibal romance reunites Chalamet with Guadagnino, who helped introduce the New Yorker to the world in Call Me by Your Name (2017). After that film helped launch Chalamet to superstardom, leading to his first Oscar nom and roles in last year’s Dune and an upcoming Willy Wonka prequel, the pair were eager to re-team.
“I was reading the script and when Lee appears on page 45, I thought. ‘This is perfect for Timothée,’” Guadagnino, 51, says.
Chalamet and Guadagnino spoke more about the metaphorical resonance of the story and how KISS led to Chalamet’s appreciation for stadium rock.
Q Timothée, you’ve played a lot of outsiders and people on the fringes. What is about those types of characters that appeal to you?
A I feel like I relate to them deeply in some way, and I can’t say I’m consciously choosing these roles, but I felt in reading this that there was a wonderful, empathetic quality to both Maren and Lee that was keeping me up at night after I read it.
Q When you’re eating people in the movie, what are you chowing down on?
A It was some kind of fruit roll-ups and cranberry (sauce), and general mush (laughs).
Q Luca, what was it about the story that resonated with you?
A When I got a script from Dave Kajganich, with whom I did two movies — A Bigger Splash and Suspiria — I couldn’t stop thinking about these beautiful, amazing characters. I was touched by a love story seen from this very specific perspective.
Q Timothée, the Lick It Up album marked a huge shift for KISS. Did you understand the importance of that record in the band’s career?
A I didn’t grow up in that era, so I’ll piss a lot of people off by saying that I fully get it. But I’ve done a deep dive on stadium rock or hair rock ’n’ roll. It started with this movie, and then it continued. I was at a bar in New York in the spring and on the jukebox, there was a bunch of Bob Dylan that I was playing and then somebody was disgruntled about it and they ... proclaimed, ‘It’s time for some Mötley Crüe!’ There’s more to the story, but now I’m a Mötley Crüe fan.
Q Timothée, you’ve literally grown up in front of people. How have you found your sense of self under such an intense spotlight?
A I always felt that expression in the arts, whether it was on stage or in the movies or as a really bad talent show act, was a relief. In another sense, I always felt that to be unsure of your footing was crucial to that. I’ve been lucky to have people like Luca in my life; people who are hugely successful but also smart. People who aren’t successful for the wrong reasons and possess a super amount of talent. And along with that, I have a really great family and friends.
Q You’re going to be mining some lighter elements in Wonka. What can we expect from that? Do you sing?
A I try to sing in it (laughs), but it was a dream come true. I’m working with a director I was hugely inspired by — (Paddington’s) Paul King. And there are darker elements. You’ll see.