Timothée Chalamet warns of 'societal collapse' ahead of cannibal film

Timothée Chalamet's custom blood-red jumpsuit is a likely nod to his grisly cannibal romance film.

French US actor, Timothee Chalamet waves as he arrives on September 2, 2022 for the screening of the film "Bones And All" presented in the Venezia 79 competition as part of the 79th Venice International Film Festival at Lido di Venezia in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

"I think it’s tough to be alive now," Timothée Chalamet told reporters ahead of his grisly romance film's premiere.

All social media feeds and camera lenses are on Timothée Chalamet's custom blood-red jumpsuit, a nod to his grisly cannibal romance film premiering at the Venice Film Festival. 

The young crowd, some of whom had camped out overnight, went wild outside the Venice Film Festival premiere for the 1980's set Bones and All.

Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell attend the "Bones And All" red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. Picture: Dominique Charriau/WireImage

Certainly, the film’s star Timothée Chalamet, 26, was looking pleased with himself, as the film is a resounding success.

We know by now that extravagant standing ovations are officially normal at global film festivals, as we saw a six-minute screaming scene after Cate Blanchett's Tár, but the ten minute raucous reaction from the crowd chanting "Luca! Luca!" at the film's Italian director was so notable it delayed the next film's premiere.

“I think there’s a young adult audience out there, all those alienated kids,” Observer critic and writer Jonathan Romney tells me of the film’s huge potential.

Chalamet, the star of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, is arguably one of the biggest stars at the Venice Film Festival. 

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, with whom Chalamet made the highly lauded gay-themed love story, Call Me By Your Name, alongside Armie Hammer, the film, adapted by David Kagjanich from Camille DeAngelis’ 2015 novel, starts out as a horror story but quickly evolves into something else, as Deadline notes.

“After the shocking opening salvo, the film sheds its genre skin to become an almost anthropological study of outsiderdom, using the false dawn of the American 1980s as a sort of petri dish for a new kind of conformity that has led us where we are today.”

Taylor Russell’s Maren is a cannibal, trying to sublimate her primal urge. When she meets fellow cannibal Sully (Mark Rylance), she can’t resist but indulge in tasty human morsels. The film kicks in when she meets Chalamet’s Lee and they go on a spree of blood-sucking across America. Eventually, we discover their difficult childhoods that have led to where they are. They find they have a lot in common and fall in love.

Any memories of Hannibal Lecter conjured by that description should fade away. The Guardian's critic noted this film is "bizarrely innocent".

Taylor Russell as Maren and Timothée Chalamet as Lee in Bones and All. Picture: Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

At the film’s press conference Chalamet constantly refers to being cut off socially during the pandemic, which was happening during filming. He says the film is about “young isolated people without identity who find affirmation through love and each other's gaze.”

“To be young now is to be intensely judged."

"It was a relief to play characters who are wrestling with an internal dilemma absent the ability to go on Reddit or Twitter or Instagram or TikTok and figure out where they fit in. Without casting judgment on that, because if you can find your tribe there, then all the power. But I think it’s tough to be alive now. I think societal collapse is in the air, it smells like it, and without being pretentious, I hope that’s why these movies matter because that’s the role of the artist is to shine a light on what’s going on.”

Taylor Russellas Maren and Timothée Chalamet as Lee in Bones and All.

In the film Timothee Chalamet's character says, “love is what saves us and frees us”. At the press conference, the young actor was asked how this resonates for him personally.

“From the point of view of friendly love and family love I feel love for my family and friends and for my new friend Taylor and for Luca. For the other kind of love I am still very young. Between these two characters there is a tragic but very strong love.”

Chalamet says he was dying to reteam with Guadagnino, “to tell a story that was grounded, like the first story we told, only this time in the American Midwest in the ‘80s and about people who are disenfranchised in every possible way.” 

Director Luca Guadagnino on set. Picture: Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

For the first time, he is also a producer of the film.

“Luca was fatherly and guided me in that process. It’s something I hope to continue doing and bring voices and faces to the screen that historically don’t get the opportunities so much.” 

Guadagnino has previously said that he could think only of Chalamet for the role and his casting was due to the “serendipity” of their both being based in Rome during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“He’s fantastic, a great performer, and to see him soaring the way he is doing now, I feel proud of him,” Guadagnino said. “And this character is something very new for him, both endearing and heartbreaking.”

Chloe Sevigny, Timothee Chalamet, Luca Guadagnino, Taylor Russell and Mark Rylance attends the Bones And All red carpet. Picture: Dominique Charriau/WireImage