Actor Timothée Chalamet credits reliance on social media to his pessimistic prediction that “societal collapse is in the air." During the press conference for Luca Guadagnino’s Venice Film Festival entry Bones And All, the Dune star shared his perspective on the plight young people face in the age of social media. “To be young now is to be intensely judged,” he said.
When asked about judgement on social media, the Bones And All actor – who makes up one half of the romantic cannibal duo with Waves breakout Taylor Russell – addressed why he thinks social media is to blame, per Deadline. Bones And All, which is based on the young adult book of the same name by Camille DeAngelis and adapted by David Kajganich, reunites the American heartthrob with his Call Me By Your Name director Guadagnino. The film tells the story of two unlikely companions, Maren (Russell) and Lee (Chalamet), who unite in America’s Midwest during the 1980s when Maren is abandoned by her father. As they travel across the country, their struggle to reconcile with the immorality of their shared compulsion to feast on human flesh forces the two young adults into the margins of society. As Maren attempts to understand her father’s role in her devious urges, the couple deals with the consequences of acting on their true selves during their journey.
Regarding his role in Bones and All, he said:
“It was a relief to play characters who are wrestling with an internal dilemma absent the ability to go on Reddit or Twitter or Instagram or TikTok and figure out where they fit in. Without casting judgment on that, because if you can find your tribe there, then all the power. But I think it’s tough to be alive now. I think societal collapse is in the air, it smells like it, and without being pretentious, I hope that’s why these movies matter because that’s the role of the artist is to shine a light on what’s going on.”
During the press conference, Russell also chimed in on the subject of judgement, expressing concern for her younger brother growing up in this world oversaturated by social media. “The self-judgment and judgment of others and that opinions seem so flooded in your every day in such a drastic and severe way,” she said. “It’s so scary because the hope is really you can find your own compass within all of it and that seems like a difficult task now.”
Along with Russell and the young actor with a long history of playing angst-ridden men in films such as Ladybird and Beautiful Boy, the Bones And All cast also features Chloë Sevigny, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mark Rylance, and André Holland.
Since the film was made during the pandemic, Chalamet also spoke on how it affected the isolation the characters feel in the upcoming movie. “A big part of it was a tribelessness, was being cut off from the social contact that helps us understand where we are in the world," he said. “Not that we’re attention hungry narcissistic beings, but nonetheless you need that contact to understand where you are, and I felt a similar disillusionment that I think Lee was feeling in the script at that point.”
Bones And All is scheduled to hit theaters on Nov. 23. Check out the latest Bones And All clip from the film below.