Timothée Chalamet is drowning in a barrage of criticisms following his questionable comments on ballet and opera in a recent conversation with fellow actor, Matthew McConaughey. In. the now viral interview, the 30-year-old actor said that he doesn't want to be in opera and ballet since they are dying art forms and no one cares about them.
Needless to say, artists from different industries criticised the actor's comment who is contending in the Best Actor category in Oscars 2026. In light of Timothée's comment, the internet did its job and dug out English actor Tom Holland's old comments on ballet and contrasted the positions of the two young actors.
Tom Holland has a background in ballet and was a dancer when he was a little boy, The 29-year-old actor had appeared oh Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast back in 2023 and had opened up about his experience as a ballet dancer.
Talking about the prejudices and challenges, Tom had said, "It wasn’t easy, but it also wasn’t tough. I went to a rugby school, so you can imagine… Like, the one kid in the school that does ballet. There’s gonna be comments here and there, it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. There were kids that didn’t understand why I was doing it or what I was doing it for."
Tom had his big break at age 12 when he played the leading role, in the West End production of Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008. Billy was a young boy who wanted to be a professional ballet dancer against his father's wishes. Needless to say, Tom had to undergo extensive ballet training for the role.
In a now viral video, the actor's conversation with Jay have been edited with a clip from 2008 when he was preparing for the role of Billy. Speaking of his experience, 12-year-old Tom can be heard saying, "It was a long audition process. It took me about two, two and a half years to actually get onto the stage. Most ballet classes are very strict."
The child actor then added, "Today I did a first move for the first time and it felt really cool. When you get it for the first time, you’re so happy."
Tom Holland, at just age 12, shared his experience and the downfalls of his journey with maturity, earning much deserved praise. Sharing a particular episode he said, "Once, in the show, we do this run up the wall move, and I sort of slipped and I went over my ankle, so things can happen...But it’s less likely because we practice it and practice it and they only put in [when] they know 100% we can do it.”
The comment section in the Reddit thread was full of appreciation for the actor, especially given the collecting angst of the internet towards Timothée. One comment read, "someone show this video to "Timotei" Chalamet. Real men do ballet". "Timpoteee doesn’t have a discipline to be a real dancer", said another user.
Another person said, "9 year old Tom Holland is more mature than adult Timothee Chalamet". Another fan took a jibe at Timothée "Plus did an epic dance number on Lipsync battle and bagged Zendaya. I'd say doing ballet was a success for him. What say you Timothy??".
The internet has always loved Tom Holland, but after the old comments resurfaced amidst the controversial comments by Timothée Chalamet, he is definitely the new hero of the generation.
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