Steven Spielberg shades Timothée Chalamet amid ballet, opera backlash

Steven Spielberg made a subtle reference to the backlash Timothée Chalamet has been receiving over remarks he made about ballet and opera.

Steven Spielberg dipped his toes into the Timothée Chalamet discourse.

During an on‑stage interview at SXSW on March 13, the "Jaws" director made a subtle reference to the heat the "Marty Supreme" actor has recently received from the classical performing arts community.

Chalamet has been scrutinized for remarks he made during a CNN and Variety town hall posted Feb. 24. The Oscar-nominated actor was discussing Hollywood norms and the expectation that film actors champion the movie theater business when he said "I don't want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.'"

The "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" filmmaker was discussing the importance of preserving the moviegoing experience, saying that it's "about community and communication and getting along with each other, and that happens in movie theaters, not sitting around living rooms watching on television something that is up there on the screen to watch."

"Netflix is a great company to work with, but the real experience comes when we can influence a community to congregate in a strange, dark space," he told Ringer journalist Sean Fennessy. "It happens in movies. It happens at concerts. And it happens in ballet and opera! and we want that to be sustained."