Timothée Chalamet Was Inspired by Austin Butler For His Upcoming Bob Dylan Movie

While the internet was divided among Austin Butler's refusal to let up on the Elvis accent, Timothée Chalamet stood staunchly on the side of being impressed. Impressed not just by the accent, but Butler's unwavering commitment to his role, to the point it inspired Chalamet to step it up a notch for his own character commitments. 

In a recent interview with GQ, Chalamet revealed that Butler inspired him to enhance his level of preparation for his role, specifically his upcoming Bob Dylan character in the movie A Complete Unknown. 

"You asked me what I’ve been doing in LA this year?" Chalamet said. "I’ve basically been working with [Butler's] entire Elvis team for my Dylan prep. There’s a wonderful dialect coach named Tim Monich. Vocal coach named Eric Vetro. Movement coach named Polly Bennett. I just saw the way he committed to it all—and realized I needed to step it up."

Chalamet also revealed that Butler had already begun speaking like his character Stellan Skarsgård from Dune Part Two as early as their Zoom cast readings.

"It started on Zoom," Chalamet said, “when we did a cast reading [...] he was already talking like Stellan Skarsgård. I can’t overstate how inspiring it was to me personally. Because here was someone who’s a little older than me, but generationally we’re similar, and I don’t know how he would put it, but his journey was different than mine. But he takes the work incredibly seriously. And I feel like I hadn’t seen that among someone my age, whether it was in drama school or on set, that did take the work that seriously but then after ‘cut’ wasn’t, you know, in some show of how seriously they took it—and instead is this tremendously affable, wonderful man."

Butler wasn't the only one Chalamet was singing praises too. The actor is highly well-known for his friendship with actress and Dune co-star Zendaya, in which he also mentions how inspiring she is as well.

"It was so incredibly valuable to spend so much time with Zendaya and her assistant, Darnell, and when Tom [Holland] would come to set too,” he said. “They’re level. They’re good Hollywood. They’re good-energy Hollywood."

He continued, "Look at Zendaya. Just how much she’s able to achieve while also sort of letting everything roll off her back is mega-inspiring. She’s just doing."

While the release date for Dune Part Two has been pushed back to 2024 due to the ongoing SAG strike, Chalamet's role as Willy Wonka in the upcoming Wonka movie remains on schedule for its December 15, 2023 release date. A movie musical following the life of young Wonka before he became the world-famous chocolatier and started his factory, Chalamet will now get to show the role his singing and dancing skills beyond the viral "Statistics" song.

To train for the movie, he worked with Tony-winning choreographer Christopher Gattelli where Chalamet learned tap and other dance forms.

“He would Skype with his mom and his grandma, just to show them, because you could tell that he was genuinely proud of himself," Gattelli told GQ. 

With the Wonka trailer newly released, it's clear that Chalamet decided to take his own approach to the character instead of imitating the previous versions done by Johnny Depp or Gene Wilder. 

Movies aside, Chalamet has also been buzzy for his ongoing relationship with Kylie Jenner, which was hard launched as they attended the Beyoncé Renaissance Tour together. While neither Chalamet nor Jenner has commented on the relationship, they were also photographed together at New York Fashion Week and the 2023 US Open.