It feels like it’s been months or even years that we’ve all known that Timothée Chalamet would star in a Blue De Chanel advertisement directed by Martin Scorsese (“Killers Of The Flower Moon”). The pair, who conducted some interviews last year, particularly one for GQ, are clearly mutual admirers of one another. Still, the ad, seen in glimpses and shortened teasers, has never been unveiled in full until now. Of course, it’s just a fragrance for men with Chalamet as the spokesperson/star, but given Scorsese directs it, it’s well, dynamic, lavish, and looks like it cost a pretty penny.
For the pair, actor and star, it’s likely just an opportunity to collaborate on something with a company like Chanel footing the bill. Set to the tune of Herbie Hancock’s 1980s hip-hop-inflected “Rockit,” the clip is meant to capture the energy of New York City. “I think our creative and New York sensibilities were aligned enough,” Chalamet explained in a new GQ interview discussing the collaboration.
“The commercial was sort of a great creative setting to meet on,” Chalamet continued. “It wasn’t really a high-pressure thing. Obviously, there’s a greater purpose to create something for Chanel there, but on a much more basic elemental level, it was getting to meet as two creatives and do what he does masterfully, and me acting, and on a playing field that doesn’t have the pressures and realities of working on a movie for three to six months that has some sort of bottom line to it.”
Scorsese told GQ last year that he first saw Chalamet in the Oscar-nominated gay romance “Call Me By Your Name,” and the young actor’s commanding presence jumped out at him.
“[The] first time I saw him was in Luca [Guadagnino] ’s film, ‘Call Me By Your Name.’ And so, you know, and I’m a great admirer of Luca, and I loved the picture,” Scorsese told GQ. “I always talk about performances, but they aren’t really, they’re like behavioral, where you don’t see the acting, you know what I mean? And so I connected there, and I saw ‘Dune,’ you know, which I enjoyed. And I started to see a sense of range. And then Chanel asked me to do this spot for Bleu. Which you had already done. I had done it years ago. The first one. They said they had this young gentleman named Timothée Chalamet, and I said, ‘Ah, that one I know.’”
Scorsese refers to the Bleu De Chanel ad he directed in 2010 with the late French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who died last year at 37 in a skiing accident.
So everything has a synopsis these days, even Blue De Chanel ads:
The new BLEU DE CHANEL film is an invitation to discover the many facets of a man who is forging his own path. An actor’s conflict between celebrity and staying true to himself. A dialogue between Timothée Chalamet’s artistic sensibility and Martin Scorsese’s virtuosity.
Well, the dynamic ad is finally out, and you can watch it below, along with the original 2010 ad.