28-year-old Timothée Chalamet could have played leading roles in the Divergent and Maze Runner franchises but didn’t make it through the casting process. The reason was his weight, which was considered too low for the role. He admitted this in an interview with Apple Music, which was released on November 11.
“When I auditioned for The Maze Runner and Divergent—you know, movies that were coming out at that time—the feedback was always like, ‘Oh, you don’t have the right body type,’” Chalamet said in the interview with Zane Lowe, published on Tuesday.
The choice was clear: either gain weight for leading roles or give up on appearing in blockbusters.
“I had an agent who called me and said, ‘You need to gain weight,’ not aggressively, but, you know, you get the idea.”
Ultimately, the actor has no regrets about this experience, as it pushed him toward selecting lower-budget films like Call Me by Your Name, which eventually made his name in the industry.
“I found my path in these very personalized films… Call Me by Your Name, Beautiful Boy, Little Women, and so on. These were smaller-budget but very personal films that occupied a unique space in cinema. That’s where I found my rhythm, my confidence, my flow—call it whatever you like,” the actor added.
Moreover, Chalamet says this experience helped him find common ground between himself and Bob Dylan, whom he plays in the new Biopic “A Complete Unknown.”
It’s worth noting that Chalamet has recently starred in lead roles in Wonka and Dune: Part Two, which have been box office successes and well-received by critics. The combined box office gross of these two films amounted to nearly $1.2 billion worldwide and about $450 million stateside, solidifying Chalamet’s reputation as a commercially successful actor.