Has Timothée Chalamet lost his damn mind?!
That’s been the hot topic of the winter movie season, as the young star’s promotional antics for “Marty Supreme” have gotten progressively loonier.
And the response to Cirque du Timmé, which sources told The Post was influenced by girlfriend Kylie Jenner, has run the gamut — from tickled to bewildered to “get off my lawn!” furious.
Here’s a sampling of the loco stuff Chalamet’s been dune all over the world.
In October, the 30-year-old star showed up at a special sneak preview of his superb new movie on 42nd Street flanked by a Stormtrooper-like posse wearing giant ping-pong-ball heads.
That was one of his more vanilla displays.
Days before Christmas, he became the first person to stand atop the Sphere in Las Vegas. Sure!
Stranger still, the LaGuardia High grad channeled “This Is Spinal Tap” when he posted a satirical video of a Zoom meeting with A24’s marketing team in which he spitballed that the Eiffel Tower be turned orange to celebrate “Supreme.”
There were crazier curveballs to come. Across the English Channel, Chalamet gushed that one of his greatest inspirations is “Britain’s Got Talent” breakout star Susan Boyle, and even mailed her a jacket.
What could possibly bind the “Wonka” actor and the Scottish “I Dreamed A Dream” singer? He told the BBC, Boyle “dreamt bigger than all of us,” referencing his film’s “dream big” tagline.
His stunt parade is practically performance art. I have never seen anything quite like it.
Yet plenty of pearl-clutchers — mostly older and more traditional — have kvetched that Chalamet’s bizarre, attention-getting methods are a turn-off to potential customers.
They argue he’s weird-ing himself out of an Oscar.
They said none of this viral frivolity would pay off.
They are all dead wrong.
Every one of Chalamet’s headline-making moves has been totally inspired. He has single-handedly schooled hopeless Hollywood in how to reach out to Gen. Z audiences that they simply do not understand.
Big names like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jennifer Lopez and Bruce Springsteen couldn’t generate enthusiasm for their prestige pictures. But Chalamet has done so — and how — while staying authentic and having fun.
“Whether it’s the merch or the Zoom or the media appearances, I’m trying to get this out in the biggest way possible,” he told IndieWire.
God forbid celebrities take a genuine interest in promoting their films instead of their usual “Walking Dead” zombie walk through a robotic media tour.
Cranky detractors call the hustler, who’s fantastic in “Marty,” “cocky.” But what, exactly, is cocky about not lazily assuming that the public will flock to your movie solely because you’re in it? Shrewd is what he is.
His stellar outcome completely contradicts the belief that viewers have lost interest in adult-skewing flicks like “Marty”; that they’ll never leave their couch again.
Not so, it turns out.
Times have changed, and long-held wisdoms of how to sell a film no longer apply. A couple trailers, a customary “Tonight Show” appearance and a legacy media profile are not motivating enough. Nobody really notices any of that anymore.
But attention has been paid to “Marty Supreme.”
Director Josh Safdie’s anxiety-fueled fever dream about a 1950s table tennis player has grossed an impressive $56 million so far domestically and is on track to reach $100 million.
That means that in the US, it will outgross fellow Oscar contender “One Battle After Another,” which Leonardo DiCaprio — so classy, so classy — did minimal press for and cost a lot more money to make.
“Marty” hasn’t even been rolled out yet in most international markets where the “Dune” actor is a proven draw.
But in the UK, Variety reported that the dramedy has already broken a record for its studio, A24.
In less than two weeks it topped their previous top British release, “Civil War,” which had a lifetime gross of $8.2 million.
Guaranteed Oscar nods for best picture and best actor will drive these totals higher.
As for shiny prizes, Chalamet took home the first significant trophy of the season on Sunday — the Critics Choice Award for best actor.
He could very well repeat the feat this weekend at the Golden Globes, where he competes against Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke and George Clooney.
But what about the all-important Oscars, which are voted on by members of the industry and not entertainment journalists.
His chances are high. Back in November I went to a “Marty Supreme” screening that Chalamet attended in New York. Also in the crowd were voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, SAG, BAFTA and the Producers Guild.
After Timmy spoke at the end, a line spontaneously formed to take selfies with a guy who, just eight years ago, was a complete unknown.
