A Brief History of Timothée Chalamet Films

Timothée Chalamet is the name on everyone’s lips. He's proven himself one of the most talented actors of his generation, a rare new movie star in an era that’s all but abandoned the concept. Since breaking out in 2017’s aching summer-of-love romance Call Me by Your Name, for which he became the youngest Best Actor Oscar nominee in almost 80 years, the New York-born performer has delivered standout work in Lady Bird (2017), Little Women (2021), Dune (2021) and more. With Josh Safdie's table-tennis drama Marty Supreme coming soon, and the third Dune instalment on the horizon, join us on a journey through the best Timothée Chalamet movies, from his early career right through to the present day. 

Men, Women & Children (2014)

Based on Chad Kultgan’s namesake 2011 novel, Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children explores how the internet has influenced relationships in the modern world. While the film was not a huge success, it captured the moment that social media became an increasingly important part of our daily lives. And although Chalamet only has a minor role in the film, he made enough of an impression to move on to bigger parts.

Interstellar (2014)

For his second feature, Chalamet landed a small role in Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi odyssey Interstellar, a film the actor would see 12 times at the cinema in IMAX upon release. He plays Tom, the son of Matthew McConaughey’s former Nasa pilot Cooper, who is on a quest to find a habitable planet for the last vestiges of the Earth’s already ravaged human population. The cost of the voyage? He will never see his children again. In this massive-scale, massive-budget film, Chalamet holds his own against scene partners McConaughey and John Lithgow. 

Worst Friends (2014)

An under-the-radar, straight-to-DVD release, Worst Friends is arguably the least known of Chalamet’s films. A dark indie comedy set in New Jersey, it tackles the strained relationship between two young men, one recovering from a traumatic accident, the other his unwilling carer. It might not be an essential Chalamet film, but for die-hard fans, it’s worth watching to see him on the cusp of fame.

One & Two (2015)

Chalamet co-stars as one of two siblings living in forced isolation, with a controlling father and a terminally ill mother. The brother and sister are both able to teleport, a gift their parents actively discourage them from using. The film looks beautiful and the teleportation scenes have a certain charm. The imagery is the main draw, but Chalamet delivers a solid performance as a stifled teen.

The Adderall Diaries (2015)

An adaptation of Stephen Elliot's true-crime memoir, The Adderall Diaries explores trauma, memory and the bias we project onto our past. James Franco stars as the author, who recently wrote a book detailing the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his father. While promoting it, and researching his new writing project based on the Hans Reiser murder case, Elliot begins to see how his perception of his childhood might not be as close to true events as he previously thought. It's a little rambling at times, with a narrative that deviates significantly from its source. Chalamet nevertheless impresses as the brooding young Elliot in key flashback scenes.

Love The Coopers (2015)

Chalamet joined an all-star cast for this Christmas-themed drama. Following the festivities of four generations of a chaotic family, the film was a significant international hit. It also gave the young actor more opportunity to learn from acting greats like Diane Keaton and John Goodman.

Miss Stevens (2016)

Chalamet enlivens Julia Hart’s poignant directorial debut, which follows a recently heartbroken high-school teacher (Lily Rabe) who accompanies three students out of state for a drama competition. Chalamet shines as a talented, emotionally deprived youngster who is prone to misbehaving, and carries a torch for his sweet-natured teacher. He steals the show in the film's standout scene, where he tearfully performs a monologue to camera. 

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

It was his portrayal of the lovesick Elio that catapulted Chalamet into the cinematic stratosphere, convincing audiences and critics alike of his talent and immeasurable charisma. Luca Guadagnino’s sensational Mediterranean romance was the perfect role for the young actor, giving him the space to prove himself, as well as allowing him to show off his multilingual abilities (he speaks French in the film) and musical skills (he's shown playing the piano and guitar). The film captured countless hearts and Chalamet was rewarded with Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar nominations. It's undeniably one of the best Timothée Chalamet movies. 

Hot Summer Nights (2017)

In this bildungsroman crime drama by Elijah Bynum, Chalamet plays a coltish teen sent away to spend the summer with his aunt in Cape Cod. There, he meets a gang of delinquents and is seduced into assisting them in their drug-dealing hustles. Entering the fast life, the actor sheds his natural innocence and reveals his edge.

Lady Bird (2017)

One of the most beloved indies of 2017, Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut features the endlessly talented Saoirse Ronan as rebellious Christine in a smart comedy-drama that captures the impetuousness, anguish and unalloyed joys of youth. Chalamet plays Christine’s boyfriend Kyle, an über-cool, slightly pompous, chain-smoking musician. The character throws about conspiracy theories, and offers pseudo-intellectual takes on pacifism and the Iraq war, but the actor still imbues Kyle with an innate likability.

Hostiles (2017)

Scott Cooper’s harsh, revisionist Western offered Chalamet his first scene-stealing cameo. It’s the story of an embittered, war-ravaged cavalry officer (played by Christian Bale with his usual conviction) tasked with chaperoning a dying Cheyenne chief and his family back to their tribal homeland. Chalamet appears as French private Philippe DeJardin, who accompanies the officer on the first part of his journey.

Beautiful Boy (2018)

Felix Van Groeningen’s biographical father-son addiction drama gave Chalamet his most challenging role to date. Based on the memoirs Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff and Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff, the screenplay is harrowingly authentic and sincere, requiring Chalamet to portray Nic with the perfect level of angst and introspection. It saw him earn more BAFTA, Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

A Rainy Day In New York (2019)

Chalamet collaborated with Woody Allen on this Big Apple confection (and later donated his entire salary on the film to charity due to the allegations against the director). He plays Gatsby, a wealthy liberal-arts student visiting Manhattan with his girlfriend, budding journalist Ashleigh (Elle Fanning). The pair find themselves separated as Ashleigh becomes increasingly beguiled by the city, while Gatsby grows ever more disillusioned.

The King (2019)

Chalamet’s portrayal of a monarch-in-waiting is a stunning showcase for his talent. As the young Hal, soon to be King Henry V, he is a carefree wastrel, living with little responsibility and enjoying the company of his friend John Falstaff (Joel Edgerton, whose screenplay adapts Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts I & II, and Henry V). As Henry V, he embraces his God-given right to power and suffers no fools or conspirators. In his first war film, Chalamet displays his versatility and leading-man potential.

Little Women (2019)

Chalamet reunited with Lady Bird’s Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan, along with a stellar cast, for a thrilling new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s American classic. In a supporting role to the March sisters (Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson and Eliza Scanlen), Chalamet delivers an emotional performance as Laurie. Chalamet was praised for his unwavering charm and affecting vulnerability, particularly during the heartbreaking scene where he confesses his love to Ronan’s Jo. 

The French Dispatch (2021)

Wes Anderson’s fabulous paean to The New Yorker is a typically adroit, stunningly realised and obsessively detailed comedy. It premiered to huge critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival and features such an astonishing all-star cast that even the smallest roles are filled by well-known actors. The film is divided into three stories, a divertissement and a book-ending section that details the titular magazine’s beginnings and end. Chalamet appears in one of the main stories, in which Frances McDormand’s journalist encounters a young radical leading a revolution against the French establishment. Anderson makes the most of the actor’s hair, transforming it into a character of its own, while Chalamet’s expressions resemble a star of the silent screen, each conveying his emotional state. It’s one of his most effortlessly charming performances.

Dune (2021)

Of all the roles any young actor could dream of playing, Paul Atreides, the protagonist of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic, must rank pretty high. He is at the heart of every aspect of this universe-spanning tale. Kyle MacLachlan played him in David Lynch’s confused 1984 version, but in the first of Denis Villeneuve’s tripartite take on the vast tome, Chalamet takes up the mantle. And he’s perfect. If Call Me by Your Name, Beautiful Boy and The King highlighted his talent, here Chalamet steps into the shoes of stardom. And they fit perfectly.

DON’T LOOK UP (2021)

Another flashy cast in the vein of The French Dispatch populates Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay’s satirical look at the climate crisis, and the unwillingness of our elected officials to do anything about it. A giant asteroid is heading straight towards Earth, meaning imminent extinction for humankind, and two scientists (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) are trying their best to get the word out, to little avail. After 90 minutes, Chalamet appears with a backwards baseball cap and a louche indifference, playing Yule, a spiritual successor to Lady Bird’s Kyle. He’s a fuckboy, sure, but he soon exposes a more sensitive side when he comes to realise that his time is running out.  

BONES AND ALL (2022)

There was much amusement around Chalamet’s reteam with his Call Me by Your Name collaborator Luca Guadagnino because of its subject matter. This horror-tinged American West road movie starring a pair of loved-up cannibals (Chalamet and Waves star Taylor Russell) seemed to be a pointed response to the 2021 allegations that Call Me’s Armie Hammer has a cannibalism fetish. (Hammer has denied these claims, and Guadagnino said any connection between this and the film is purely coincidental.) Anyway, Bones and All itself is a surprisingly tender romance beneath all the dismemberments and bloodshed; Chalamet and Russell have beautifully crackling chemistry.

WONKA (2023)

It's obvious that, ever since becoming a star, Chalamet chooses projects very carefully, considering how each role challenges him as an actor, fits into his repertoire, and positions him to both the wider public and film industry. Playing a young, starry-eyed Willy Wonka in a scrumptious Roald Dahl prequel showed audiences (and studio executives) that Chalamet could appeal to children, who'd previously been underserved by his adult dramas. It was a smart career move, and Chalamet enlivens Paul King's glorious world of pure imagination with an untapped goofy humour and plentiful charm. Upon arriving in a pastel-perfect Paris, his Wonka sets about opening a confectionery shop, but his efforts are thwarted by a malicious chocolate cartel. 

DUNE: PART TWO (2024)

Chalamet's first sequel – and it's certainly a great one. Villeneuve's follow-up to his 2021 hit is a technical-filmmaking masterclass, elevated by stunning cinematography that captures the dizzying sands of Arrakis and the cold sunlight of Geidi Prime (the latter of which was expertly crafted with infrared cameras). The film wouldn't be the sci-fi triumph that it is, though, without a lead actor to ground it. Chalamet shines as a messiah battling alongside the Fremen, which includes Zendaya's Chani. 

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (2024)

Chalamet earned his second Oscar nomination for inhabiting the Pulitzer-winning singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in James Mangold's acclaimed biopic. As the director did in Walk the Line (2005), he centres the story on a pivotal moment in his subject's early career. Here, it's when Dylan went electric, much to the dismay of the country musicians who, in their view, put him on the map. Chalamet, along with the rest of the cast (notably Monica Barbaro), sing live, rather than lipsyching to a backing track, which imbues their performances with more authenticity and emotion. A Complete Unknown is a fascinating study of a mercurial figure who had a playful relationship with the facts of his own life. 

MARTY SUPREME (2025)

As we wrote in our review, Chalamet's frantic, Oscar-nominated performance as table-tennis prodigy Marty Mauser is 'the perfect collision of actor and part'. He plays the 23-year-old athlete as an egotistical striver, who will accept nothing less than becoming 'the face of the entire sport in the United States' – and will step over anyone who gets in his way. Marty's goal is not all that dissimilar from Chalamet's own: they both want to dominate in their given field. The sheer number of promotional stunts the actor undertook to market the film (custom jackets, fake Zoom calls, walking on the Las Vegas Sphere...) somewhat overshadowed Marty Supreme itself. Which is a shame, because it's a rabid panic attack of a movie that effectively depicts the corrosiveness of male ambition.  

COMING SOON 

Never one to rest on his laurels, Chalamet will be back on our screens later this year for Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi franchise capper Dune: Part Three. Shrugging on his cloak and breathing in spice, the actor reprises the role of Paul Atreides for the final time. We pick up with him after he's started a war and, by the looks of the trailer, that unleashes plenty of action on Arrakis' sandy battlefields. A host of new-generation talents star alongside Chalamet, including Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Robert Pattinson making his Dune debut.