When you end up in not one but two Oscar-nominated movies in the same year apart, you’re objectively on a hot streak. That’s where Timothée Chalamet is right now, but the only thing that could have probably improved on that is talking to an elusive genius like Frank Ocean. Well, wishes come true, and Chalamet was interviewed by Frank for V Man magazine in a convo that somehow feels as wistfully abstract as both Call Me By Your Name and Blonde.
Ocean first talks to to Chalamet about that kind of fire video of the latter rapping in high school about statistics (Chalamet: “Oh fuck … That’s embarrassing.” Frank: “I saw it on Ellen. I figured if Ellen’s talking about it, then it’s fair game”) but the two then delve into deep yet banter-filled discussions on the artistic process and music.
Videos by VICE
TC: I’m such a fan boy. [Being involved] with fashion has been really fun, just as a fan. I don’t want to work with a stylist or anything. I’ve been following designers like Raf, Haider Ackermann, Hedi Slimane—these guys are like rock stars. They’re artists.
FO: Yeah, they’re artists. There’s this really great connection between all these [creative] fields. You’re finding your own creativity and being excited about that; it’s cool. I’ve been into photography for six or seven years. It’s almost like this quiet search for joy. It actually provides me with the same feeling that making a record does: imagining or dreaming about something, and then it being in the real world.
TC: “Dreaming a thought that could dream about a thought. / That could think of the dreamer that thought. / That could think of dreaming and getting a glimmer of God.”
FO: [Laughs.] Don’t do that.
On the topic of Call Me By Your Name‘s well-curated, otherworldly soundtrack, there’s mutual appreciation, to which Chalamet urges Frank to score a movie (“Yeah, one of these days,” he responds). It also turns out that Chalamet’s piano instructor for the film’s technically demanding performance segments had a painting of himself at work above his own piano, which is some truly Kanye-level self-appreciation. Mr. West himself is discussed too, when Chalamet justifies possibly working on a Transformers movie by citing Kanye’s love of Guillermo del Toro’s own giant robot epic Pacific Rim.
But truly, this interview confirms that Frank Ocean absolutely speaks like his emotional lyrics in real life:
“I think it’s also good for you that [‘Call Me By Your Name’] is your opening song. It’s such a proper foundation, to do roles like these that have so much heart and vulnerability in the very beginning, completely boutique or small, but on the lips of so many.”
The whole thing is actually totally adorable, and you can read it here.
