Lucas Hedges is Fine With the Fact Timothée Chalamet is the Bigger Heartthrob
Timothée Chalamet and Lucas Hedges‘ breakthrough moments will forever be intertwined—not only did they play the two boyfriends in Lady Bird, but each immediately nabbed Oscar nominations for their breakthrough roles, both have played young gay men struggling with love and identity, and both have played sons caught up in addiction. The fact that many of their movies have been distributed or produced by buzzy Indie company A24 has also lead to a recurring joke on Twitter. “Lucas Hedges and Timothee Chalamet are locked in a room in the basement of A24 living off of lacroix and cigarettes,” begins one popular tweet.
Despite all of this, Hedges himself thinks there’s one big difference: Chalamet is a River Phoenix-level magical heartthrob, while he, himself, is more of an acquired taste. That’s per his new cover story in WSJ., apparently appropriately entitled, “The Beautiful Regularness of Lucas Hedges.”
“I do think about why there isn’t, like, a River Phoenix or somebody who I experience as being magical and ethereal and culturally historical,” Hedges says before pausing and admitting, “I do actually experience that with Timothée.”
To wit, while Instagram may be full of fawning Chalamet fan accounts with 10,000 or more followers, the most popular we could find for Hedges (@LucasHedgesPX) has just 1,495 followers despite regular updates. While Chalamet’s rumored romance with Chanel muse Lily-Rose Depp has lit up the internet, photos of Hedges getting pecked on the cheek by a co-star at a Knick game barely caused a ripple on the internet.
Hedges is fine with that. Mostly.
“In my best moments, I feel compassion for that—I think that’s really dangerous and I wouldn’t know how to handle it,” he told the magazine of teen heartthrob super fame. “In my worst moments, deep jealousy.”
“I think I have a realistic sense of myself,” he says. “The kind of actors I look up to are not the Rob Lowes. That’s not to say I haven’t wanted to be those guys.”
“I know some women who are in love with Paul Dano,” he continues while trying to place himself amongst actors who might develop fanbases for different reasons. “Colin Firth, perhaps?”
Of course, trying to pinpoint your possible niche sex appeal is an awkward position for anyone, and it’s not like his lack of spreads in Tiger Beat is making him any less in demand. Fresh off Boy Erased and Ben is Back this year, his next projects include Shia LaBeouf‘s semi-autobiographical film Honey Boy and A24’s upcoming Florida-set teen musical Waves.
