Timothee Chalamet says he was told he didn't 'have the right body' for some big roles

Timothée Chalamet is pictured in "A Complete Unknown." (Courtesy Searchlight Pictures via CNN Newsource)

Lisa Respers France -

Timothée Chalamet has shared a story that makes clear women in Hollywood aren’t the only ones being judged for their physical appearances.

The “Dune” star talked to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about his experience early in his career.

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“If I auditioned for ‘The Maze Runner’ or ‘Divergent,’ things of that variety that were popping when I was coming up, the feedback was always, ‘Oh, you don’t have the right body,’” Chalamet said. “I had an agent that called me and said, ‘You got to put on weight,’ basically — not aggressively, but you know.”

Chalamet stars as the legendary singer Bob Dylan in the forthcoming music biopic, “A Complete Unknown.” He likened their paths to each other given how Chalamet said he “found my way into these very personalized movies.”

“For [Dylan], it was folk music,” Chalamet said. “He couldn’t keep a rock and roll band because they would all get hired by other kids that had more money, literally, in Minnesota.”

The project has been meaningful to the star.

“I am now deep in the church of Bob,” he said. “And I feel like I get this opportunity to kind of be a bridge to this music.”

Chalamet’s path to more commercial films like “Wonka” and the “Dune” franchise started with him doing smaller production movies like “Call Me by Your Name,” “Beautiful Boy,” and “Little Women,” which didn’t require him to change his body.

“Those were smaller budget, but very — I don’t know how else to put it — personable movies that started in this theatre space,” he said. “This is where I found my rhythm, my confidence, my flow, whatever you want to call it.”

“A Complete Unknown” hits theatres on Christmas Day.