Timothée Chalamet has revealed he spent thousands of dollars to be able to perform Bob Dylan‘s songs on Saturday Night Live.
The Oscar-nominated actor starred as Dylan in the 2024 film A Complete Unknown.
During a Q&A on Sunday at London’s Prince Charles Cinema, as reported by Variety, Chalamet spoke about his time hosting and performing as the musical guest on the long-running comedy sketch series in January 2025.
“I spent over six figures out of my pocket to do the SNL performance,” Chalamet said. “Lorne Michaels said, ‘Hey, do you want to host SNL?’ I said, ‘Yeah, can I do the music?’ He’s like, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Alright, I’m not doing it.’ He said, ‘OK, do the music.’ But I refused to take no for an answer.”
Chalamet performed Dylan’s songs “Outlaw Blues, Three Angels” and “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” on the show.
The actor, who is nominated for best actor at the Oscars this year for Marty Supreme, spoke about how performing Dylan’s songs on SNL was part of “the new way of doing stuff” when it comes to film promotion.
“I’m trying to reach audiences, you know. I don’t want to be in the pretentious in-crowd. 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,” Chalamet said. “So the most pretentious answer I could give you, which I actually honestly feel, is that it’s not marketing or promotion. That sounds like a gimmick, and this is not a gimmick. This is coming from my heart and my soul.”
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