5 Revealing Admissions From Frank Ocean’s Recent Interview With Timothée Chalamet

The fashion and culture magazine VMan just ran an interview between bisexual hip-hop artist Frank Ocean and straight actor Timothée Chalamet, the guy who played a bisexual teen named Elio in the recent romantic film Call Me By Your Name. The Frank Ocean Timothée Chalamet interview is friendly, candid and reveals a few interesting things about each entertainer. (For instance, Chalamet reveals that his first name is actually pronounced “Timo-tay.”)

Here are five other revealing quotes from the Frank Ocean Timothée Chalamet interview:

1. On whether people have been calling Chalamet “Elio” in public:

That’s been happening. Though riding the 2 train or taking the M12 bus around the city, that hasn’t changed; I guess people don’t really give a fuck in New York. I actually get more people stopping me for Lady Bird (trailer below), and going, “Is that the douchebag from Lady Bird?” So that’s awesome.

I’ve seen certain actors, or musicians like you, keep a sense of integrity and mystery. That’s ultimately what’s been really awesome about Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird as an introduction [to me]: I was up for bigger, more commercial projects, but I didn’t get them. They just didn’t choose me, and it’s been gratifying, coming from more of a place of artistry and not just pure exposure.

Here’s the trailer for Lady Bird:

2. On where Frank Ocean goes for grub in Los Angeles:

The place that I go to as soon as I get off the plane usually is Ohana, this little Hawaiian Korean BBQ spot in a Studio City strip mall. It’s been the same staff for the past 10 years. There are [photos of] struggling actors on the wall in frames and they have the best chicken potstickers, grilled fish, and short ribs in L.A..

3. On the profound reason behind Ocean’s photography hobby:

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.

4. On why Chalamet is glad that Call Me By Your Name was set in the early ‘80s:

I’m a total “nostalgist” and Call Me By Your Name’s director, Luca, grew up in that time period. In fact, the book is set in ’88 and he changed it to ’83 because he said that was the year in your life you can hear music from. In the movie, there’s Talking Heads, The Psychedelic Furs, or just the Bach or Beethoven — those are all songs from Luca’s youth, what it was like for him in Italy in the ’80s.

Also, in 1988, the AIDS crisis had already hit and that was part of the reasoning for making [the film] a little bit earlier too, so it wasn’t as intense, and could be a little more utopic.

What a tragedy for movies now that if you want to be contemporary, phones have to be involved, with texting and FaceTime. I don’t know if [the characters in] Call Me By Your Name would ever have that relationship if there was passive-aggressive commenting and “likes.” They actually had to talk, figure each other out, and struggle with their emotions.

5. On whether Chalamet thinks creative talent is inborn or learned:

I think I have to go with the first. I had this feeling I couldn’t not act and yet to get there I really needed teachers, and one teacher in particular, to make me comfortable with failing. To be bad and get over it — that opened the floodgates. I did a play in New York when I was 15, after this really difficult but ultimately helpful sophomore year in high school; that’s when it kind of took off for me.