Moment Steven Spielberg avoids awkward run-in with Timothee Chalamet at Oscars after slamming his opera feedback
It appears Timothee Chalamet suffered quite the bruised ego at the 2026 Academy Awards.
Not only did he lose out on winning his first-ever Oscar, but he also went unnoticed by Steven Spielberg on the red carpet.
The director, 79, had recently criticized controversial comments Chalamet, 30, made about ballet and opera, and if the actor hoped to smooth things over with the director at the Oscars, he certainly lost his opportunity.
Video captured by the Canadian entertainment show ETalk shows the moment Chalamet seemingly approaches Spielberg, lingering for several seconds before his publicist escorts him away after the filmmaker fails to notice him.
The duo were just inches away from one another, though Spielberg’s back was turned to Oscar nominee and it is unclear if he was even aware of Chalamet’s presence.
Spielberg, who was attending the show with his granddaughter Eve Gavigan, seemed more concerned with greeting colleagues and making his way through the red carpet.
Steven Spielberg avoided an award run-in with Timothee Chalamet at the 2026 Oscars after criticizing comments the actor made about opera and ballet
Chalamet could be seen lingering by Spielberg for several seconds before his publicist intervened
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Chalamet and Spielberg, but has not yet heard back.
Spielberg was one of many hitting back at recent comments Chalamet made about ‘no one’ caring about ballet and opera anymore.
The Oscar-nominee made the unfiltered remark while talking to Matthew McConaughey about his hopes that movie theaters are able to survive.
He then added that ‘I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it’s like: “Hey, keep this thing alive,” even though no one cares about this anymore,’ in an interview for Variety’s Actors on Actors.
‘All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,’ added Chalamet, who is nominated for a best actor Oscar this Sunday for the ping-pong movie Marty Supreme. ‘I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason.’
His comments drew outrage from theatrical personalities ranging from ballerina Misty Copeland to legend of stage and screen Nathan Lane.
Spielberg slyly inveighed against Chalamet while discussing his own hopes for movie theaters during an onstage interview at the South by Southwest film festival.
‘But for me, the real experience comes when we can influence a community to congregate in a strange, dark space where all of us are strangers,’ he said.
Spielberg attended the ceremony with his granddaughter Eve Gavigan
Chalamet failed to win his first-ever Oscar but he was able to drown his sorrows in style with girlfriend Kylie Jenner at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party
‘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. And there’s nothing like that. It happens in movies and in concerts. And it happens in ballet and opera, by the way,’ he added, according to Variety.
The audience cheered and laughed at the obvious Chalamet dig, and Spielberg noted with a smile: ‘And we want that to be sustained. We want that to go on forever.’
Chalamet’s dig at opera and ballet came when he and McConaughey were discussing the Hollywood figures who make public statements in support of movie theaters.
‘I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, doing a talk show about how we’ve got to keep movie theatres alive, you know, we’ve got to keep this genre alive,’ he said.
‘And another part of me feels like, if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it,’ he added, noting opera and ballet do not have that mainstream audience.
When he then apologized for the ‘shot’ he had taken at the art form, McConaughey said: ‘That’s not a shot, I hear what you’re saying.’
