That was close.
Timothée Chalamet avoided an awkward run-in with Steven Spielberg at the Oscars 2026 after he trolled the actor over his controversial ballet comments.
In a video captured by “eTalk TV” Sunday, the filmmaker was walking on the red carpet with his 13-year-old granddaughter, Eve Gavigan, when the “Marty Supreme” star could be seen walking up behind them.
The reporters said Chalamet and Spielberg were “just one person apart” as the group was huddled before heading into the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The “Dune” star, 30, was accompanied by his rep, who guided him away from where Spielberg, 79, was standing.
The men did not make eye contact and did not speak.
Two days before the Oscars took place, the “Jaws” director shaded Chalamet for saying “no one cares” about ballet and opera.
“At the end of a really good movie experience, we are all united with a whole bunch of feelings that we walk into the daylight with, or into the nighttime with,” the legendary director said during a panel at SXSW 2026 last Friday.
“And there’s nothing like that. It happens in movies and in concerts. And it happens in ballet and opera, by the way,” Spielberg added. “We want that to be sustained. We want that to go forever.”
Last month, Chalamet said he didn’t “want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.’”
“All respect to the ballet and opera people out there … I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I’m taking shots for no reason,” the Oscar nominee said at a town hall event produced by Variety and CNN at the time.
Shortly after Chalamet’s statement went viral, several stars slammed the actor publicly, including ballet legend Misty Copeland, who said he “shouldn’t be comparing” his craft to other art forms.
“He wouldn’t be an actor and have the opportunities he has as a movie star if it weren’t for opera and ballet and their relevance in that medium,” the ballet dancer, 43, explained.
“So all of these mediums have a space,” she added.
At the Oscars Sunday, Copeland took center stage to dance alongside vocalists Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq as they performed to “I Lied to You” from the “Sinners” soundtrack
Chalamet watched from the front row alongside his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner.
