Timothée Chalamet says he’s inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis in quest “for greatness” during SAG speech
Timothée Chalamet said he was inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis during his SAG Awards speech last night (February 23).
The star took home the Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role for his portrayal in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. It was his first gong in an awards race that has been led all season by The Brutalist’s Adrien Brody.
At 29, he is the youngest person to win Best Actor at the SAG Awards which were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
As well as Brody, he prevailed over Ralph Fiennes, Colman Domingo and Daniel Craig for the award.
“I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” Chalamet said while accepting his award (via Variety).
“I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats. I’m inspired by the greats. I’m inspired by the greats here tonight. I’m as inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando and Viola Davis as I am by Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, and I want to be up there. So I’m deeply grateful. This doesn’t signify that, but it’s a little more fuel, it’s a little more ammo to keep going. Thank you so much.”
Speaking about his role in A Complete Unknown, he added: “I know the classiest thing would be to downplay the effort that went into this role, and how much this means to me, but the truth is, this was five and a half years of my life.
“I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero, and it was the honour of a lifetime playing him. It’s an honour I share with Monica [Barbaro], Edward [Norton], the entire cast, doing a biopic in a genre that could be perhaps tired. Everyone gave it their all – I’m so deeply grateful to them.”
He was previously nominated for Call Me By Your Name (2017) and Beautiful Boy (2018), the latter for supporting actor. He also received ensemble nominations for Lady Bird (2017), Don’t Look Up (2021), A Complete Unknown and the TV drama series Homeland in 2013.
Reviewing A Complete Unknown, NME awarded the film four stars and said: “Timothée Chalamet sings and plays his way into Oscars contention with a career-best showing.”
Other winners on the night included the cast of Conclave who took home the win for Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture and Demi Moore who won Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Leading Role The Substance. You see the full list of winners here.
The post Timothée Chalamet says he’s inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis in quest “for greatness” during SAG speech appeared first on NME.
Damian Jones
NME
