My Leading Man | Timothée Chalamet

chapter five

After spending an inordinate amount of time in my little seat in the café, simply trying to process what had just transpired, I finally managed to summon up enough common sense to realize I had to get to class or I was going to be late. I scooped up my backpack, grabbed my coffee, and left the restaurant. 

I'm sure I looked the same on the outside, but my insides were a jumble. I couldn't seem to put two coherent thoughts together in my head, just moved through muscle memory. By the time I finally got to class, I arrived a few minutes late, so I slipped into one of the empty seats in the back to not disrupt the lecture. I noticed Syd sitting in her usual seat a few rows ahead, who turned back to me. "What happened?" She mouthed at me.

    Not knowing how to properly formulate a response, I just dropped my mouth open and shrugged my shoulders, trying to communicate my loss of words to her. She made a face and turned back around.

    Today's lecture seemed to drone on, but at the same time, was moving too fast for me to keep up. I tried to focus on my professor's instruction, I really did, but my mind kept turning back to this morning's meeting with Timothée. Was it even real? Did I imagine all that? A small part of me hoped I had imagined it, but the more logical part of me knew it really happened.

    Trying to get a grasp on reality, I decided to stop trying to take notes - I had only written down two things this entire time anyway - flipped to an open page in my notebook, and made a list of everything I was sure of.

1. Sydney slept over last night.

2. We went to Coffee Hug this morning to meet with Timothée Chalamet.

That one alone threw me for a loop, but I had texts with Syd to prove it, so I pushed onward.

3. He came, sat down with me, and Syd took a picture with him.

4. He told me he really liked my script- no, it was one of the best scripts he's ever read.

I just shook my head in amazement. I still couldn't completely fathom that part either. I had to remain logical though, not get caught up in all that I couldn't comprehend, so I made the next bullet point.

5. He wants a part in my film.

I scratched that part out and added: He wants to play Theo, my leading man in my script.

I just stared at my list.

There it was, all laid out for me to see. The facts. What happened this morning.

    Oh, one more thing. I pulled his agent's card out of my backpack and stared at it, breathing. Finally, I picked up my pen and added the last bullet.

6. Timothée Chalamet gave me his agent's card, said to contact her within a week, and let her know if he has the part.

    It still didn't seem real, that this was happening to me, but there it all was nevertheless. I checked the date on my phone: Wednesday. That meant I had until next Wednesday to call his agent and give her the verdict. Only seven days?! I just finished the script! I wasn't going to start thinking about production for another month or two, and that's if my professor thinks it's worthy!

    Ugh, I wanted to scream. This felt like a dream, but also a nightmare. In a way, all my filmmaking dreams were coming true; more, even, since I never considered something like this would ever happen to me. At the same time, it was all happening so fast and I didn't have any money I could put towards production costs, let alone a crew or other actors I could depend on. Plus, I had to acknowledge the fact that I'd have to find people willing to commit to it within the week. For heavens' sake, I had never even directed a real movie! I mean, sure, I had made little films in the past with my friends and family, but this? I sighed. I might just have to tell his agent that there's just no way. There's no money, no crew, nothing, let alone the fact that I had almost no experience directing a film.