Timothée Chalamet recently revealed the staggering amount of money he spent on his Saturday Night Live (SNL) musical performance last year. In January 2025, the three-time Oscar nominee, who already hosted two episodes of the long-running late-night sketch comedy show by that point, brought a unique twist to his third hosting venture. In his third hosting gig, Chalamet pulled double duty by hosting the episode and performing as the musical guest. For his musical performance, Chalamet covered three of Bob Dylan’s — whom he essayed in A Complete Unknown — songs: “Outlaw Blues,” “Three Angels,” and “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.”
Timothée Chalamet talks about his SNL performance
Timothée Chalamet recently sat down with About Time filmmaker Richard Curtis for a Q&A session at London’s Prince Charles Cinema. In the session, he discussed his unconventional approach to promoting movies. During the discussion, the Dune star revealed he had spent “six figures out of [his] pocket” for his SNL musical performance, where he covered three songs from Bob Dylan’s discography last year.
Chalamet recalled asking SNL creator Lorne Michaels if he could do a musical performance when the latter asked him if he was interested in hosting again. “He’s like, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Alright, I’m not doing it,’” he added. “He said, ‘OK, do the music.’ But I refused to take no for an answer” (via Variety).
The 30-year-old called what he was doing “the new way of doing stuff.” He added that he only wanted to connect with audiences. “I don’t want to be in the pretentious in-crowd,” he further stated. “‘Marty Supreme’ in America had the least frequent moviegoing audience this year — people that weren’t going to see everything. That’s my favorite feedback on the movie.”
He continued, clarifying that his publicity stunts, which include turning the Las Vegas Sphere into a giant Marty Supreme-inspired ball, were neither marketing nor promotion. “That sounds like a gimmick, and this is not a gimmick,” the Call Me By Your Name star further clarified. “This is coming from my heart and my soul.”
