It was close.
Timothée Chalamet avoided an awkward confrontation with Steven Spielberg at the 2026 Oscars ceremony after he mocked him for his controversial comments about ballet.
In a video captured by eTalk TV on Sunday, the filmmaker can be seen walking the red carpet with his 13-year-old granddaughter Eve Gavigan when the Marty Supreme star walks up behind him.
Reporters said Chalamet and Spielberg were “alone alone” as the group gathered before heading to the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
The “Dune” star, 30, was accompanied by a deputy who escorted him away from where Spielberg, 79, was standing.
The men did not make eye contact or exchange words.
Two days before the Oscar ceremony, the director of “Jaws” criticized Chalamet for saying “nobody cares” about ballet and opera.
“At the end of a really great movie experience, we all come together with a range of emotions and walk into the daylight or into the night together,” the legendary director said during a panel discussion at SXSW 2026 last Friday.
“And there is nothing like that. It happens in movies and concerts. By the way, it also happens in ballet and opera,” Spielberg added. “We want it to last. We want it to last forever.”
Last month, Chalamet said, “I don’t want to do ballet or opera work where it’s like, ‘Hey! Nobody cares anymore, let’s keep this thing going.'”
“With all due respect to the ballet and opera people…I just lost 14 cents in the ratings. I’m taking pictures for no reason,” the Oscar nominee said at the time at a town hall event produced by Variety and CNN.
Shortly after Chalamet’s comments went viral, several stars, including ballet legend Misty Copeland, publicly criticized Chalamet, saying his art “should not be compared” to other art forms.
“If it wasn’t for opera and ballet and their association in that medium, he wouldn’t have become an actor and he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be a movie star,” the 43-year-old ballet dancer explained.
“So all these media have space,” she added.
At Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, Copeland stood center stage, dancing with vocalists Myles Caton and Rafael Saadiq to perform “I Lied to You” from the Sinners soundtrack.
Chalamet watched in the front row with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner.
