Timothée Chalamet Is the Best Part of 'Call Me by Your Name'

The 21-year-old actor talks to PRIDE about his breakout role as Elio in this year's critically-acclaimed, gay-themed film, Call Me by Your Name.

Call Me by Your Name (the film adaptation of André Aciman's 2007 novel of the same name, directed by Luca Guadagnino and screenplay by James Ivory) is garnering plenty of critical acclaim after opening in select Los Angeles and New York theaters this past Thanksgiving weekend. Much of that acclaim is due in part to the film's breakout lead Timothée Chalamet, and his performance as Elio, a 17-year-old Italian-American boy who falls in love with a handsome, 24-year-old intellectual (played by Armie Hammer) over the course of the summer in 1983. 

PRIDE sat down with the uber-talented 21-year-old actor and talked what was the most (and least) relatable part about Elio, the universality of first love, and how he prepared himself to play a teen who is just starting to explore different aspects of his sexuality.

For more Call Me by Your Name, check out the official trailer here! And be sure to check out the film when it hits a theater near you soon!

PRIDE: How did you prepare for the role of Elio knowing that sexuality and his queerness was a big part of his narrative?

Timothée Chalamet: I don't think sexuality is behaviorally identifiable. I think it's, to each his own experience, lived in life, and however one wants to live their life is up to that person. I think it would be impossible to, as an actor, make choices or as an audience member, identify behaviors that would correspond to a sexuality.

P: Gay or straight, first love is a universal experience. Was there anything in your past that you used to help you in the role?

TC: Certainly. I remember when I was 13 I went to a performing arts high school in New York, and one of the first ideas our main drama teacher had communicated to us was that as an actor it's sometimes necessary to pull from past experiences and personal stuff, but you also want to be careful and not blur the line too much, just out of self-protection. Life doesn't imitate art and art doesn't imitate life too much. 

P: In an interview with OUT, Armie mentioned that he was apprehensive about the role of Oliver because it was 'subtle and personal.' Did you have any apprehensions about Elio?

TC: As opposed to Armie, I have the tremendous benefit of absolutely nobody having any idea who I am, so I didn't feel like there was too much on the line. I didn't have The Social Network and that street cred, and this just felt like a fantastic opportunity to play a role at a young age that's complex, and layered, and contradictory. These roles for young characters really don't exist. It's very rare. I read a book called The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and I thought that was similar to Call Me by Your Name and awesome.

To work with Luca, whose other movies are amazing, and James Ivory's screenplay...for a young guy, how do you say no to that?

P: There's been a lot of debate about whether LGBT characters can/should be played by actors who aren't openly LGBT. What are your thoughts on that, and did that play a part in you wanting this role?

TC: I think that's totally fair. Acting is acting. I love when anybody stretches themselves to any extent as an actor.

P: In your experience, what was the most relatable part about playing Elio?

TC: The personal anguish that is unique to the experience of getting scarred for the first time. 

P: What was the least relatable?

TC: The ability to relax and sit still in the sun and not sit in a place of tension. 

P: Do you think there will ever come a day and a time where the sexuality of an actor or a character won't be an issue?

TC: I think that's certainly the hope. It'll only come with the conversation moving forward and being brought to the forefront as often as possible. I think part of what makes Call Me by Your Name so powerful is that it really is a boundary-less expression of love where the sexuality in the film really isn't defined with the ruler's edge that the Western father's of thought decided for us 2000 years ago.

There's boys with boys, and boys with girls, and boys with peaches, and one can imagine the same universe with girls with girls, and girls with peaches or whatever. That's probably one of my favorite themes of the film. Because of the lack of an antagonist by way of disease or a roaming gang of antagonizing individuals, it becomes hard in a great way to see where the boundaries are. All the different expressions of love melt into one another in a very utopian way.