My Leading Man | Timothée Chalamet

epilogue

SEVENTEEN MONTHS LATER

January 25, 2024

"Are you ready for this?" Timothée whispered to me, smiling widely. He certainly was.

"I- I think so." I shook out my hands and he wrapped an arm around my neck, pulling me against him.

"You're going to be amazing. And you look beautiful." He leaned down for a kiss and I pushed him away.

"No! You can't touch me you'll mess up my makeup," I laughed, and he laughed too but leaned away.

In the background, I could hear the Sundance employee introducing our film, me, and the rest of the cast.

"Okay- I don't know if I can do this-" my heart was thumping and I bounced my leg in my seat frantically. "How do you do this all the time?!"

"It gets easier. Now take a deep breath; in-" he moved his graceful hands in an upward motion, breathing in loudly. I joined in. "And out."

It was momentarily calming, but didn't last too long.

"You're on!" Kris, his agent, whisper-yelled to us, and I felt my stomach plummet to the floor.

In the background I heard, "and finally, introducing the amazing talent behind For Lies and Loyalty, Violet Ross, Timothée Chalamet, Ava Green and Sydney Roberts!"

I felt like I was going to be sick but rose from my seat in the front row of the theater, straightened my long, draping beige silk dress with a diagonally cut hem. I distantly heard cheering in my ears as I watched Timothée, dressed in a trim, indigo suit making his hair and skin stand out strikingly, walking confidently and elegantly, taking long, graceful strides towards the stage, and me right behind him. He paused at the stairs, held my hand, and guided me up them as I glanced back and saw Syd and Ava entering from just behind us, looking beautiful and at ease. Am I the only one freaking out here? I noticed then that Timothée was waving to the crowd, which made them cheer louder, so I did the same and soon we were seated in the center of the stage. We took our seats just like Kris told us, from left to right at the small wooden table and onto the metal folding chairs.

I sat in the left-most seat, stared at my microphone sitting before me, and anxiously took a sip of the water bottle placed in front of me. To my right was Timothée, Ava, and Sydney respectively. I swallowed and pasted on a grin, hoping I looked normal.

"Thank you all for watching!" I said into the mic, and a round of cheers sounded around me. I looked then, for the first time, all across the theater and saw rows upon rows of strangers, cheering and supporting. It was intimidating, yet also comforting. "I'm Violet, the writer and director of For Lies and Loyalty, and with me today I have my incredible leads, Timothée Chalamet -" a huge round of cheers interrupted me and I smiled, biting back a laugh. "Sydney Roberts," more cheers, "and the genius Ava Green, our Director of Photography." The praise died down and I glanced down at my notecard, torn and covered in fold marks, and read my next line. "This film has been a labor of love, and we're so excited to get to speak with you all about it today."

The Sundance employee who introduced the film asked the first question, directed to me: "This film is very unique, with an enrapturing storytelling. What inspired you to write this? And as such a young, amateur film student, what has been challenging in writing such a thrilling and complex story?"

With trembling fingers in my lap, I smiled widely (and, I hoped, convincingly), and began. "That's a great question. I would definitely say not just one thing inspired it- similarly with all scripts, I think, so many things in our lives - in my life - have affected it. But mostly, I remember getting a shadow of an idea for it after watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - one of, in my opinion, the greatest films of all time - and then just a few people I knew growing up helped me finalize the idea and put it to paper. And honestly, I've had a lot of amazing help in creating this script; friends and family and professors have made a huge difference. I couldn't have done it without them; especially at my age."