In a lengthy new cover story for GQ magazine, Timothée Chalamet reveals that Tom Cruise sent him an email after they met following the production of “Dune” in which Cruise offered up a list of all the stunt trainers, motorcycle coaches and more that Chalamet could reach out to.
“He basically said, in Old Hollywood, you would be getting dance training and fight training, and nobody is going to hold you to that standard today. So it’s up to you,” Chalamet recalled. “The email was really like a war cry.”
Chalamet is a huge Cruise fan, admitting to watching “Top: Gun Maverick” eight times in theaters while in Budapest filming “Dune: Part Two” in the summer and fall of 2022. The actor even bought out a movie theater to bring the whole “Dune” cast and crew to see Cruise’s blockbuster.
“’Top Gun’ was just hugely inspiring to me last summer when we were making ‘Dune’,” Chalamet said. “Some of the crew were kind of scoffing at going, but I just thought it was one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen.”
While Chalamet did not confirm whether or not he got in touch with the stunt trainers Cruise recommended, “Dune” director Denis Villeneuve definitely saw a change in his leading man from “Part One” to “Part Two.”
“Action-wise,” Villeneuve said, “I felt that he was much more trained than in ‘Part One,’ and ready for the fighting sequences. I was impressed by his level of discipline for ‘Part Two.’ You know, when you are the lead on a movie, there’s a presence, the way you approach your work and your discipline will necessarily have a ripple effect on the rest of the crew. He was the first one on set, always ready. And I was super pleased and impressed with how Timothée really embraced that discipline and became, for me, a real leading actor on this film.”
Cruise is a topic Chalamet has no problem speaking about, whereas he gets a bit more bottled up when the subject of Armie Hammer is brought up. Chalamet and Hammer became close friends while starring together in “Call Me by Your Name,” but Hammer’s career faltered after he wasaccused of rapein March 2021. Then private messages between Hammer and several women leaked online, revealing the actor’s sexual fantasies such as cannibalism. These hit at a time when Chalamet was gearing up to play a cannibal in “Bones and All.”
“I mean, what were the chances that we’re developing this thing?” Chalamet said, reflecting on a time when Hammer’s private life and his movie became synonymous with one another. “It made me feel like: Now I’vereallygot to do this. Because this is actually based on abook.”
When asked how he personally processed the allegations against Hammer, Chalamet told GQ, “I don’t know. These things end up getting clickbaited so intensely. Disorienting is a good word.”
That’s the extent to which Chalamet discussed Hammer, which is more than the actor had to say to Time magazine in the months directly after the rape allegation against Hammer was made. “It’s a question worthy of a larger conversation, and I don’t want to give you a partial response,” he said at the time while declining to comment. Hammer has long denied all criminal wrongdoing.
Head over to GQ’s website to read more from Chalamet’s new cover story.
