April 13, 2026
Nostradamus Perspectives

Who wants to work in ballet or opera?

Actor Timothee Chalamet sparked backlash online in March after careless comments that seemed to denigrate opera and ballet as art forms. However, this inadvertently tapped into a necessary conversation that has been percolating in the industry for years - how can theatrical film stay relevant to audiences when it is no longer the default mainstream entertainment?

Timothée Chalamet said the following in a conversation with Matthew McConaughey back in February: “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore’” A clip of this statement exploded across social media and led to a massive outcry from both individuals and institutions. 

Now that the viral dust has settled it, let’s take some time to reflect on what this statement actually points at. Because he was not really talking about his personal like or dislike of opera and ballet. However inelegant they might have been, his comments should spark the difficult conversations about cultural relevance and audience engagement that the film industry needs to have. This is a theme that has been bubbling in the background for well over a decade and often been brought up by interviewees in the Nostradamus report. 

A particularly prescient prediction can be found in the 2021 report when Brian Newman (Producer, Consultant, founder of Sub-Genre) said “Five years from now I think we’ll have seen the shift to where film is becoming more like opera and classical music, with a refined audience going to theatres.” This sentiment was further echoed by Ted Hope (Producer, Cofounder, Double Hope Films) in the 2024 report: "I still believe that cinema is our greatest art form, but right now, I’d place money that in five years’ time you can equate it with jazz and dance.”

Film - especially theatrical film - has gone through a huge transformation in recent years that seems to point towards its shift out of the cultural centre that we as an industry have taken for granted. So if Timothée, and the rest of us, don’t want to work in an industry “on life support” the question is what would have to change for that not to be the case? How does the work itself change when you cannot take for granted that you are culturally relevant? What does it mean to have a career in an industry and art form that needs to work harder to reach an audience?

Perhaps it is possible that both the industry as a whole and individual filmmakers now find themselves in a position where we need to learn from art forms such as opera or ballet or jazz or dance. Art forms that predate cinema and used to have a much more central role in popular culture. They might have smaller audiences, but the ones they do have are passionate and engaged. Tellingly, ballet companies and opera houses around the world took the opportunity this media attention gave them to highlight the fact that many people do in fact still care - with several boasting about sold out shows.

If you want to dive deeper:

Nostradamus Report 2021 Transforming Storytelling Together

Nostradamus Report 2024 Paradox of Hope 

New York Times: Timothée Chalamet Has a Point About Ballet (requires log-in)

Vanity Fair: Timothée Chalamet Is Right About Ballet and Opera

Vulture: Film Is in Its Own Crisis, Timothée (Paid Access)