Timothée Chalamet Jeers ‘Punk’ Co-Star Who Unnecessarily ‘Flexed’ on Him

Timothée Chalamet is looking back on an encounter with a “punk” co-star who belittled his acting prowess due to his education.

The Oscar-nominated star, 30, opened up to Matthew McConaughey in a conversation published by Variety on Saturday about the negative experience with the unnamed actor as he reflected on the unsolicited advice he’s received over the years.

“No names, but the guy was a punk,” Chalamet told McConaughey. “He asked me what conservatory I had gone to, and I said I didn’t go to an acting conservatory. And he said, ‘Well, you haven’t trained as an actor then.’ And we were all part of an ensemble.”

The Marty Supreme star added, “Beware of the people in life that get more of the advice they give you than you get at the advice,” explaining, “They’re thrilled by the act of giving you advice. All of a sudden you can’t listen to what they’re saying anymore because they’re flexing on you so hard.”

Turning to McConaughey, his co-star in Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film Interstellar, Chalamet added, “You never did that to me, though, which I’m grateful for.”

The Golden Globe Award-winning actor admitted to being “aimless but motivated” when working on Interstellar as a new high school graduate at age 17, but getting to see how McConaughey and Nolan took the work so “seriously” was an “origin point” in his own acting career.

“It gave me a license,” he explained. “Coming out of high school, it’s hard to take yourself super seriously. You can feel like you’re wasting time or stuck-up or something. And I remember you had a yoga mat, and you’d be working out and sleeping on set. It was all very strange to me. But it was super inspiring.”

He continued, “I just can’t thank you enough for being warm to me at that time, when you had no reason to be warm to me. Christopher as well. It just changed my life, man.”

McConaughey responded that Chalamet was “pretty easy to be warm to” and recalled his “feverish curiosity” while working on the film. “You were figuring some stuff out, but it seemed obvious to me that no matter what you were dealing with, you were going to make your way,” he assured.