Timothee Chalamet Says Pro Wrestling Was ‘Hugely’ Inspirational’ For Him

Timothee Chalamet is an avowed wrestling fan, and he recently spoke about how inspirational the business is for him. The actor, who is a front-runner for Best Actor at the Academy Awards this year for his role in Marty Supreme, has spoken in the past about his wrestling fandom. He recently spoke with Matthew McConaughey for Variety and spoke about how much the business means to him. You can see the highlights below:

Timothee Chalamet on Wrestling Being Inspirational:

Hugely. Professional wrestling for me was sort of a guidepost growing up because I wanted to be an athlete, I just didn’t have the skill, the body, the physique, the speed. Acting was sort of — I grew up in an actor’s building, and it wasn’t my dream at its core.” It just wasn’t for whatever reason. WWE and professional wrestling was somewhere in the middle. It was like the titans, our athletes, both men and women, but with this showmanship and storytelling. It’s planned, it’s scripted, it’s fake, some people say, but the blows are real. The bruises are real. So, it was hugely inspirational.

“Professional wrestling and WWE has been hugely influential to me. I feel like what I love with Marty Supreme and Matthew’s work as a whole and WWE, you see this with Bad Bunny tapping in or IShowSpeed and stuff like that, I just feel like it’s of the people, no matter how cheesy that sounds. New York is sort of a weird spot on the map of the world because New York, you can get the highest of the high and the lowest of the low. WWE is more of an Americana thing. New York’s got a lot of love for WWE.”

On the Nature of Wrestling:

“Professional wrestling and all its representing is deeply archetypal storytelling. It’s War Of The Worlds, and it’s not told in a pretentious manner. It’s not about cinematic shots of whatever, but it gets to a core thing. It’s populist, it’s of the people. There’s nothing like WWE, man. They should pay me for saying this. The entrance themes, the vibes.”