Timothée Chalamet is having the best year in 2024, but his acting career apparently would've never taken off if it hadn't been for the chivalrous gesture of a California rapper.
Earlier this year, Timothée reprised his role as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two, and he ate the press tour up alongside his costars Zendaya, Florence Pugh, and more with fashionable homages to the film.
Towards end the year, Timothée starred in another Oscar contender, A Complete Unknown, based on legendary folk singer Bob Dylan, but went for a different, entirely unexpected strategy during the press tour.
It started off with him tapping into his fashion bag and paying tribute to Bob's 2003 look at the premiere of his own film Masked and Anonymous.
For the rest of the press tour, Timmy had gone for a completely unknown tactic of being the most unhinged and unsuspecting guest, and it's really working for him in the eyes of the public.
On Dec 7, the Wonka actor stunned everyone during ESPN College GameDay when he effortlessly cosplayed as a sports pundit, firing off his surprising knowledge of college football.
On Dec. 19, Timothée joined his A Complete Unknown costar Elle Fanning for Vogue's "Off the Cuff," and the interview went completely off the rails.
Then, the Call Me By Your Name actor kept the unhinged press tour going with an appearance on Brittany Broski's BroskiReport, revealing that he's internet-obsessed like the rest of us.
And on Christmas, he appeared in Nardwuar vs. Timothée Chalamet, where the eccentric celebrity journalist and musician asked him a series of deep-cut questions at Record Surplus in Los Angeles.
When Nardwuar asked Timothée about being "knighted" by California rapper Lil B, The Based God, he attributed this random moment to his acting career "taking off."
According to Timothée, back when he was a student at NYU, he met Lil B and met him after asking to be knighted. "I had $50 from a commercial I did," he said.
"I bribed a kid to give me his ticket. I was in there alone, you know, front row to the right. I raised my hand. I got called on by him. I told him I was going to ask out a crush, and he invited me on stage, and he knighted me," he explained.
"And honestly, he said, 'That boy's hand's been blessed,' and from there, my acting career took off," Timothée added.
"Lil B is like a hugely formative artist in my life and career," Timothée said. "He dropped an album called I'm Gay, and the rollout was very ambiguous about his sexuality or the meaning of the album, and I was just inspired from the sense that, 'Wow, this guy's just doing whatever the fuck he wants,' and it was just cool to me at the time in this genre of hip-hop that he was like all over all the place."
"I was struggling before that. I'd just did Royal Pains, and then, you know, I was nominated for an Oscar by the time I was 22. Shout out Lil B. Nothing possible without Lil B. Pray to the Based God."