Timothée Chalamet is calling out clickbait over his “Call Me by Your Name” co-star Armie Hammer. The actor shared in a recent GQ cover story that it was “disorienting” to hear of Hammer being accused by several women of sexual assault, including messages of cannibalistic fetishes. “These things end up getting clickbaited so intensely,” Chalamet told the outlet. “Disorienting is a good word.”
Allegations against Hammer were made public in 2021; formally filed charges were dismissed in an L.A. court in May 2023. Hammer was dropped from numerous films and lost representation at agencies in the wake of the accusations.
Meanwhile, Chalamet and “Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino moved forward with a cannibal love story drama, “Bones and All.” “I mean, what were the chances that we’re developing this thing?,” Chalamet said of the film being made at the same time as the allegations against Hammer.
Chalamet added of rumors that “Bones and All” was inspired by Hammer, “It made me feel like: Now I’ve really got to do this, because this is actually based on a book.”
Director Guadagnino previously said during the 2022 Zurich Film Festival that he was attached to “Bones and All” since 2015, years before the Hammer claims came out. “It was to be directed by my great colleague Antonio Campos, but he decided not to go for it,” Guadagnino said. “That’s when they gave me the script. Any correlation with this kind of innuendo and silliness [about Hammer] is preposterous.”
The auteur added, “With ‘Bones and All,’ I wasn’t interested at all in the shock value, which I hate. I was interested in these people. I understood their moral struggle very deeply. I understood what was happening to them. I am not there to judge anybody. You can make a movie about cannibals if you’re there in the struggle with them, and you’re not codifying cannibalism as a topic or a tool for horror.”
Guadagnino later noted that he would “of course” include Hammer in a “Call Me by Your Name” sequel. “It’s a wish and a desire, and I have not made up my mind about what would be the story,” Guadagnino said of the possible follow-up. “I would love to make a second and third and fourth chapter of all my movies. Why? Because I truly love the actors I work with, so I want to repeat the joy of doing what we did together.”
