Charlize Theron Responds To Timothée Chalamet’s Comments About Ballet: ‘Dancers Are Superheroes’
Charlize Theron has praised dancers, in response to Timothée Chalamet‘s controversial comments about ballet and opera.
Theron, who moved to New York to become a ballet dancer, defended the art, claiming “dancers are superheroes.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Theron didn’t hold back on what she thought about Chalamet’s comments.
Speaking on her experience as a dancer, she said, “Dance is probably one of the hardest things I ever did. Dancers are superheroes. What they put their bodies through in complete silence.”
The interviewer replied, “Sorry, Timothée Chalamet,” in response to comments made earlier this year.
During a talk with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet had commented on certain art forms, in particular taking a jab at ballet and opera.
“I don’t wanna be working in ballet or opera, or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive,’ even though it’s like, no one cares about this anymore,” he said.
It seems Theron took umbridge with these comments.
“Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day,” she replied. “That was a very reckless comment on an art form, two art forms, that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time.”
“In 10 years, A.I. is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live,” she continued. “And we shouldn’t s*** on other art forms.”
She went on to detail her personal dancing experience.
“Dance taught me discipline. It taught structure. It taught hard work. It taught me to be tough. It’s borderline abusive. There were several times that I had blood infections from blisters that just never healed. And you don’t get a day off. I’m literally talking about bleeding through your shoes. And that’s something that you have to practice every single day, the mindset of just, you don’t give up, there’s no other option, you keep going.”
Despite the backlash towards Chalamet’s comments, it seemed they actually had a positive effect.
In an interview with The Times, chief executive of the Royal Ballet and Opera Alex Beard detailed the public’s “fantastic” response.
“I thought it important that we didn’t issue a kind of hoity-toity response to Chalamet. We simply said ‘Take a look at what we’re doing, mate’ – for instance, the fact that the largest portion of our audience by age is 20 to 30-year-olds,” he explained.
“And you know what? Our post got two and a half million engagements and half a million shares, just on Instagram. And our ticket sales got an immediate boost. So cheers, Timmy!”