‘SNL’: Timothee Chalamet Seemingly Takes Jab at Warner Bros. and HBO Max During Outro

Timothée Chalamet appears to have made a statement with the sweatshirt he wore during the closing of his Saturday Night Live hosting debut. During the curtain call, the actor donned a Legendary-brand hoodie, which Deadline noted was likely a subtle show of support for the production company just days after the outlet reported Legendary’s decision to challenge WarnerMedia over the distribution of Dune.

Chalamet plays Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, which WarnerMedia announced on Dec. 3 would debut on HBO Max along with cinemas amid the coronavirus pandemic. Legendary and its partners funded a number of films, including Dune, that are now planned for a hybrid release, but Deadline reported at the time that the company had not been warned in advance of the announcement, which sparked a debate about the future of theaters and streaming in the movie realm.

During his hosting debut, Chalamet also made an interesting request to the audience, going beyond the typical thank yous to ask people watching “treat us with kindness.” He concluded the show, “We’ve all been through a crazy year…we could do a little bit of kindness. Every bit of kindness counts.”

Villeneuve has also spoken out against AT&T and WarnerMedia for the move, writing in a passionate essay published by Variety that “Warner Bros. might just have killed the Dune franchise.” He wrote that “even though Dune is about cinema and audiences, AT&T is about its own survival on Wall Street,” adding that “there is absolutely no love for cinema, nor for the audience here.”

Calling HBO Max “a failure thus far,” Villeneuve continued that while streaming services are a valuable part of the entertainment landscape, he felt Dune needed to be watched in theaters. “Streaming can produce great content, but not movies of Dune’s scope and scale,” he wrote, adding that Dune was specially created by a hardworking team for optimal theater viewing. “I want the audience to understand that streaming alone can’t sustain the film industry as we knew it before COVID,” he said.

AT&T and HBO Max have defended the controversial decision after a number of directors, including Christopher Nolan, criticized the move. AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said Tuesday at UBS banking conference, “I think when we just are being really honest about this, there’s a win-win-win here,” later adding, “We think it’s a great way for us to penetrate the market faster and quicker.”