The Best Timothée Chalamet Movies, Ranked

Timothée Chalamet is one of the most talented and exciting actors working today. He first exploded onto the scene with his breakthrough role in Luca Guadagnino‘s Call Me by Your Name, a role that earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars, making him the youngest nominee in that category in over 80 years. Since then, he has forged quite the filmography for himself.

Chalamet ended last year by starring in the prequel film Wonka, the latest film by Paddington 2 director Paul King, and 2024 will also see the release of Dune: Part Two, while Chalamet is set to play Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown by director James Mangold. Already, his filmography is quite impressive. Here is a ranking of Chalamet’s best films so far.

10 Hostiles

Directed by Scott Cooper

Hostiles may be the most brutal film that Chalamet has appeared in. It’s a solid Western with beautiful cinematography and outstanding performances, but it’s also gloomy and a bummer to watch. Hostiles shows the brutality of the old West, especially when walking through hostile territory during this time. It’s slow-paced but has an intriguing, emotional story that keeps you invested. Director Scott Cooper doesn’t hold back from portraying incredibly violent action scenes that add to the harshness seen in this film. Chalamet isn’t in Hostiles much as most of the time is spent with Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike’s characters, but Chalamet still puts on a good performance when he’s on camera. Hostiles is very different from other movies Chalamet has appeared in but it still shows how versatile he is by placing him in a more harrowing environment.

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9 Beautiful Boy

Directed by Felix van Groeningen

Based on the memoirs by Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy stars Chalamet as Nic, a college-aged teen who struggles with a crippling drug addiction. Not only does this addiction hurt his physical and mental health but it also impacts his family, especially his father (Steve Carell). Despite his many attempts at rehab and staying sober, he keeps relapsing and it almost seems like he’ll never get over it.

Chalamet and Carell both give heartbreaking performances here. Chalamet has moments of desperation and weakness as he continues to spiral despite wanting to stay sober. Carell wants his son back and constantly feels like he is going to lose him forever to his addiction. The two work well off one another and both shine as these two characters. The film does a great job at showing the overall impact of a drug addiction and how it not only impacts the drug-taker but also those who care about them. Chalamet’s character is a good person and his performance makes you root for him and feel sympathy for him when he can’t fight temptation.

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8 The King

Directed by David Michôd

The King is based on many of Shakespeare’s plays surrounding Henry V. Chalamet stars as Henry, the young king of England who inherits the throne after his father dies and must navigate the current war with France. Chalamet gives an impressive performance as a seemingly immature, rich prince who steps up to the plate once he’s given a massive responsibility. However, his new responsibilities force him to sever relationships with former friends like Falstaff (Joel Edgerton), depicted as a more toned-down version of the character from Shakespeare. Robert Pattinson also plays a delightfully hatable villain who chews up every scene.

Director David Michôd leans into the darker aspects of this story as the film is very gloomy and often joyless. The gore is fully on display and it’s disturbingly realistic. It’s a slow-paced film but it also contains some well-directed battle sequences and emotional scenes that will keep you invested throughout. There are moments that Shakespeare fans will recognize from his plays but this movie is more concerned about portraying the historical aspects of this story rather than adapting a play.

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7 Wonka

Directed by Paul King

Chalamet was able to embrace his goofier side with Wonka, playing the title character long before he would make his chocolate factory. But Chalamet’s performance in the lead role doesn’t attempt to wink at the portrayals of the character from Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp, but makes the performance his own. This version of Wonka is playful, charming, and a delightful optimist that longs to become a chocolatier that people will magic. This version of Wonka mixes sweet treats with magic, and similarly, Chalamet brings a sort of magic to the character. Wonka might be the most over-the-top, silly side of Chalamet that we’ve seen so far, but hopefully it’s not the last, as the actor seems to be having a ball in that top hat. —Ross Bonaime

6 Interstellar

Directed by Christopher Nolan

You would be forgiven if you completely forgot that Chalamet is in Interstellar, as he isn’t in it all that much and he is a lot younger. Chalamet plays a young Tom (later played by Casey Affleck), the son of Matthew McConaughey’s character who ends up going on an almost impossible mission to space to find a new home as the Earth is dying. Interstellar is a trippy space epic featuring Christopher Nolan’s trademark of interesting twists combined with a sci-fi element.

The imagery is unbelievable to look at and brings to life scientific theories about space that have never been seen before. The score from Hans Zimmer also adds a majestic and almost magical feeling to this film. Interstellar does sometimes get lost in its complexity but it is still gripping, especially with the relationship between McConaughey and his daughter, played by Jessica Chastain. Chalamet’s character is somewhat pushed to the side but it’s cool to see him in one of Nolan’s most ambitious films.

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5 Lady Bird

Directed by Greta Gerwig

Lady Bird is a coming-of-age story starring Saoirse Ronan as a high school senior who comes into direct conflict with her family and friends as she struggles to figure out where she wants to go in life. Ronan puts up a phenomenal performance, even though her character is somewhat unlikable. In fact, it’s hard to find anyone to root for in this story, especially Chalamet’s character who initially seems like a cool hipster character but turns out to be an untrustworthy jerk.

His performance is very one-note but that’s the point. It’s hard to hate Chalamet in anything but he plays a smug, shallow teen so well that he gets you to dislike him. However, he still does enough to separate himself from being a standard cool boy in a teen movie. The movie as a whole does do a great job at showing Ronan’s struggles and how her actions conflict with her parents, especially her mother (Laurie Metcalf). They have awesome chemistry and their relationship feels authentic. Director Greta Gerwig captures the awkwardness, drama, and uncertainty that comes with being a high school senior exceptionally well and the performances all come together to create intriguing characters.

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4 Little Women

Directed by Greta Gerwig

Another Gerwig outing, Little Women follows the story of four sisters (Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, and Eliza Scanlen) in the era shortly after the Civil War. The movie follows these sisters as they all navigate being women in a society where their role is often limited to being a housewife who is dependent on their husbands. However, the sisters, especially Jo (Ronan), try to challenge norms and make their own mark in the world.

Chalamet plays Laurie, a close friend of the four sisters who finds himself entangled in different romantic relationships with two of the sisters. Chalamet oozes charisma in this role and has tremendous chemistry with both Ronan and Pugh, who his character is most closely involved with. Little Women wisely focuses more on the relationships between the sisters and how their different goals come into conflict with one another. There isn’t much of an overall plot but Gerwig gives us an in-depth look at this family and the challenges that come with being a woman during this time. It’s a movie filled with heartbreak, love, tragedy, and hope and it all comes together beautifully.

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3 Bones and All

Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Surprisingly, Chalamet’s most graphic film also features one of his most sensitive performances. Despite his stardom, Chalamet has never struggled to identify the outsiders in society, and why they’re doomed to walk their own paths. In Luca Guadagnino’s heartbreaking adaptation of the Camille DeAngelis novel of the same name, he stars as the young cannibal, Lee. Lee cannot hold back his inner nature; he’s been forced to fend for himself after a traumatizing experience with his father. He inherently fears that any happiness he’s granted by the world is destined to be taken away from him. Chalamet is particularly charming during his initial interactions with Maren Yearly (Taylor Russell), another young drifting cannibal who has been abandoned by her family. He shows a casual kindness in helping her escape from a store without drawing attention to either of them.

Lee’s dexterity in alluding to his issues and keeping them a secret showcases how long he has been alone; perhaps he’s only holding on to some sense of morality because it’s the only thing he has left. It seems like anyone he touches either turns away from him or ends up getting hurt. He even makes sure to keep a distance from his sister, Kayla (Anna Cobb), out of fear of drawing her into his circle. Bones and All isn’t a traditional “teen romance tearjerker,” but the film is only subversive because it is played so sincerely. It’s remarkably similar to Call Me by Your Name in many ways, including its incredible soundtrack of 1980s hits. Nothing about Lee and Marens’ cannibalism is stigmatized, and the moments of brutality are vivid and not glamorized in the slightest. It’s an incredible example of Chalamet’s bravery, and why he’s been hailed as the heir apparent to Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s unafraid to generate empathy from someone who seems like a monster. — Liam Gaughan

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2 Call Me By Your Name

Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Call Me by Your Name is the film that put Chalamet on the map. To this day, it’s still his best performance and he even snagged an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Chalamet plays Elio Perlman, a young man living in Italy who begins a romantic relationship with Oliver (Armie Hammer). However, Oliver is older and is only staying in Italy for a short amount of time. Call Me by Your Name is focused on the relationship Elio develops with Oliver and his emergence into adulthood and discovering his own sexuality. It’s a story about love, heartbreak, and desire that also manages to be a coming-of-age story with plenty of depth. Director Luca Guadagnino does a remarkable job of capturing this beautiful story.

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1 Dune

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Yes, it’s one of his most recent films but it’s hard to deny the absolute visual sci-fi spectacle that Villeneuve created. Based on Frank Herbert’s classic novel, Dune features Chalamet as Paul Atreides, the heir to a powerful house in space that becomes intertwined in a series of political challenges and betrayals. Dune isn’t a sci-fi action spectacle. It’s more like space Game of Thrones where the focus is on the more political aspects of the galaxy. Chalamet is good as Paul and portrays him well based on how he is in the book. He is surrounded by a tremendous cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, and Zendaya. While there are many characters and complicated sci-fi terminology, Villeneuve does a great job of making everything relatively easy to follow.

The story is slow-paced but that just allows you to revel in everything that you are looking at. Visually, it’s almost a masterpiece, with grand, epic shots of the landscapes and flawless visual effects. This doesn’t feature Chalamet’s best performance, but it’s the best movie that he has been a part of.

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