Berlin Flashback: When Timothée Chalamet Was a Complete Unknown at the Berlinale
What a difference a decade makes. When Timothée Chalamet arrives at this year’s Berlinale for a special gala screening of James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, in which he plays an inscrutable Bob Dylan, he’ll be hailed as a star: He’s headlined such blockbusters as Wonka and the Dune movies and also just earned his second best actor Oscar nomination.
When Chalamet first walked Berlin’s red carpet in 2015, it was a different story. Then just 19, he was starring opposite Kiernan Shipka in Andrew Droz Palermo’s indie feature One & Two.
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Following supporting parts in Showtime’s Homeland and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, it was Chalamet’s first lead role; he and Shipka portrayed siblings with the ability to teleport.
During a visit to THR’s lounge, Chalamet explained, “The movie’s about their separation journey — getting back together in the end or maybe not.” But the press was more interested in Shipka, who played Jon Hamm’s daughter in Mad Men, then heading into its final season.
As for the low-profile One & Two, THR critic Harry Windsor noted simply, “Chalamet and Shipka are both very fine, though the recessive script…makes it difficult to really get a handle on their characters.” Given a limited release by IFC Midnight, the film disappeared with little notice.
It would be two more years until Chalamet broke through with Call Me by Your Name, which played in Berlin after debuting at the Sundance Film Festival.
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