Why This Actor Went Phone-Free While Filming His Latest Movie
By Movieguide® Contributor
Timothée Chalamet wasn’t letting anything distract him from his work on a recent movie — including his smartphone.
During an appearance on THIS PAST WEEKEND W/THEO VON, Chalamet shared that he “had his phone off” the entire time he shot A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, the Bob Dylan biopic where Chalamet portrayed the legendary singer.
“I had three months to play this guy, and then the rest of my life, I never get to play him again. So I was locked in,” he explained. “You never want to say you’re competitive, but there’s been a lot of music biopics, and I wanted to do a great…job.”
“I love Bob Dylan,” Chalamet concluded. “None of this is for granted.”
READ MORE: A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (2024) REVIEW
He elaborated on his decision to keep his phone shut off during filming in a 2024 Rolling Stone interview.
“It was something I would go to sleep panicked about, losing a moment of discovery as the character — no matter how pretentious that sounds — because I was on my phone or because of any distraction,” Chalamet said. “I had three months of my life to play Bob Dylan, after five years of preparing to play him. So while I was in it, that was my eternal focus.”
During a 60 MINUTES interview, he shared, “I’ve never approached a character so intensely as Bob, ’cause I have such respect for the material. And I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I — if I remembered that I was lazy on a day where something went wrong.”
The actor’s focus paid off; he received an Academy Award nomination for his work in the movie.
Chalamet isn’t the only one who prefers to leave his phone at home when he’s on set. Director Denis Villeneuve, who Chalamet worked with on the DUNE movies, has also banned phones from his sets.
READ MORE: WHY DUNE DIRECTOR HAS ‘ABSOLUTELY’ BANNED CELLPHONES FROM HIS SETS
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