The Ballad of Timothée Chalamet: Why the Oscar Loser Is Still a Winner in My Book, and Why His Day Will Come Soon

Happy Thursday, folks!

Unless, of course, you work for Row K, the indie distributor that’s already struggling to pay its bills less than a year after launching. The company spent way too much money to acquire and release Gus Van Sant’s thriller Dead Man’s Wire, which simply wasn’t an awards contender, and the film wound up losing millions.

Now, Maude Apatow’s directorial debut, Poetic License, is searching for a new distributor — the horror! — Row K is stuck with a Nick Robinson-Emilia Jones movie called Charlie Harper, and the company is touting the Aug. 28 release of its Cliffhanger reboot starring Lily James — a prospect I find suspicious, given that Row K can’t even pay its moderators a few hundred bucks right now.

I feel kind of bad for Megan Colligan, who was in charge of creative at Row K, not the company’s finances, but how could she not know who she was getting into business with? I’m not gonna name names, but one already presided over a company that crashed and burned under unusual financial circumstances. A leopard can’t change its spots, as the saying goes…

Meanwhile, it should go without saying that the indie film business is a horrible, horrible business, and you really have to have a strong stomach for it — and the inevitable losses it brings.

Speaking of losses, Disney may have dodged a bullet with OpenAI pulling the plug on Sora, its AI video generator. The company will get back its billion-dollar investment, and it’ll be able to choose another Big Tech partner to Josh D’Amaro’s liking.

There’s still no word on why OpenAI shuttered Sora, but I suspect that the company realizes that the way to make real money is to cater its products to businesses rather than the average consumer, who only has so much money to spend on AI. Plus, while a ton of people are down to watch AI videos, far fewer people want to actually make them.

This evening’s newsletter finally brings my thoughts on the Oscars and the internet’s favorite post-show topic — Timothée Chalamet‘s future.

Over the past 10 days, we’ve heard more about Chalamet — why he lost, and how he could’ve won — than any of the actual winners, and frankly, I’m sick of it. Mainly because most of these writers have no idea what they’re talking about, let alone how to appreciate true greatness. They’re turned off by confidence. As I write below, fuck ‘em!

I apologize for swearing, but I’m in the mood after catching a sneak peek of the Tourette’s movie I Swear last week, when it screened as part of the AMC Screen Unseen program.

I offered up a brief review on Twitter, but simply put, I Swear is a must-see, featuring an incredible performance from Robert Aramayo as John Davidson, the man who recently shouted the N-word at Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo while they were onstage at the BAFTAs — an incident that somehow made it to the BBC broadcast.

Davidson has Tourette syndrome, which often prompts him to say the worst thing imaginable at the worst possible times. It was a regrettable incident, no doubt, but an involuntary one, and I hope that the bitter memory doesn’t affect Aramayo’s awards chances next year. After all, there’s a reason he beat Chalamet and eventual Oscar winner Jordan at the BAFTAs this year.

Frankly, I loved Maxine Peake and Peter Mullan, too, as well as Scott Ellis Watson, who plays a younger version of John. I Swear is a total crowdpleaser, and I understand why some will likely skip it in the wake of the BAFTA controversy, but after seeing the film and learning about John’s story, that controversy looks even more silly.

Davidson harbors no hate in his heart, and it would be a real shame if someone didn’t see this movie. Not only would they be missing an entertaining opportunity to educate themselves about Tourette’s, but they’d only further stigmatize the disease, all because they aren’t mature enough to understand that what happened at the BAFTAs was purely accidental — no ill will was intended. And yes, intentions still matter, dammit!

Please see I Swear when it hits theaters on April 24. It’s a real winner and a total crowdpleaser. You won’t be sorry — I swear!

Damon Lindelof was sorry last week, though… for calling the color green “stupid” on a 2024 podcast while jokingly explaining why DC’s new Green Lantern series would simply be called Lanterns.

Because some DC fans seem to have a mental defect, they jumped on Lindelof and called for his head, though they were forced to settle for an apology from the man himself.

Lindelof called it “a dumb joke” that was “sloppy and careless.” I don’t know if HBO forced him to address it, given how much the network has riding on Lanterns, but I’ve seen a lot of stupid “controversies” in my day, and this one just about took the cake.

But don’t worry… the frosting was green.

In addition to my thoughts on the Oscars and Lil Timmy Tim, tonight’s mega-edition includes an in-depth review of Project Hail Mary and my thoughts on the Dune: Part Three trailer.

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