Monica Barbaro breaks silence on Timothée Chalamet’s ballet controversy

Monica Barbaro breaks the silence over the ongoing controversy about ballet and other classical art forms; she holds little more perspective.

During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Chalamet inquired about her opinion on the ongoing rumors. The two worked together on “A Complete Unknown,” and Barbaro said she was inclined to give her former co-star the benefit of the doubt.

In response, Barbaro explained, “I can’t possibly know exactly where he was coming from when he said that, but one of the conversations we had on set was about his sister being a dancer, and he was actually saying it from a very hats-off, respectful kind of place”.

Barbaro suggested Chalamet may have been talking less about the artistic value of ballet than the shrinking audiences supporting it. She further noted, “I feel like he was expressing something in a way that made it sound like it was about respect for the art form, when really I think it is about audiences for that art form, and I do think audiences are dwindling for those kinds of art forms”.

Having recently performed at London’s National Theatre herself, Barbaro pointed to the financial pressures facing live performance and increasingly expensive ticket prices.

“I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt because I feel like it’s more about, it’s not diminishing the art form,” she continued. “It’s more a commentary on how we don’t celebrate these art forms. The world is not giving these art forms the love and the centering that they deserve.”

Still, Barbaro stopped short of speaking for Chalamet entirely. “Again, I don’t know that that’s what he was saying, but that’s my personal takeaway,” she said. “I’m a Gemini. I try to see all sides. I think there is some truth to that statement in a way that I would like to not lead with offense. But it’s very much his business to express what he did or didn’t mean, why, and how he feels about any of it.”

Barbaro also acknowledged how dramatically comments can mutate once they leave the room in which they were made.

“I think things feel so different when you’re there in the present moment than the way they’re received,” she said. “The way it’s received is almost its own tidal wave of experience, which sometimes people are optimizing for on press tours. So, there’s that. It makes it more complex.”

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Elsewhere in the conversation, Barbaro offered a small update on another project audiences have been waiting to hear about, “Top Gun 3”.

When asked about the update, she responded that the “Top Gun: Maverick” cast still keeps in touch, and whether she knows when the sequel might actually happen, Barbaro said the group chat has gone relatively dormant.

She further mentioned, “The ‘Top Gun’ text thread has been kind of quiet for a minute. I don’t know anything. We can’t say anything, and I don’t know anything. That’s happened several times throughout this process.”

However, she added, “It’s not to say that any rumors aren’t true, but it seems like there’s a will. We’re not quite at the point where we know definitively what’s happening.”

The cast apparently remained close even if the sequel machinery hasn’t fully started moving again. Barbaro said the group used to FaceTime regularly and suggested it might be time for another reunion.

“I feel like we should all hop on a FaceTime sometime soon because, now that I’m thinking about it, it’s been a minute,” she said. “We used to do them pretty regularly.”

So, no flight plan for “Top Gun 3” just yet, but at least everyone still appears willing to get back in the cockpit. Watch the conversation below.