Timothée Chalamet Picks His Favorite Director — It’s Exactly Who You Think

Timothee Chalamet is having a moment. At 30, he is in this year's Best Actor race for his lead turn in 'Marty Supreme,' and he now holds the distinction of being the youngest actor to rack up three Best Actor Oscar nominations since Marlon Brando. In the middle of all that, he sat down for a new chat with Matthew McConaughey and casually dropped his pick for favorite director. No coy teases. He just said it.

Chalamet's pick: Christopher Nolan

Chalamet has worked with a murderer's row of filmmakers already — and he still circled right back to the guy who gave him one of his earliest big-screen breaks. The topic came up while he and McConaughey were reminiscing about 'Interstellar,' where Chalamet played young Tom.

"S--, man. Nolan is my favorite director to this day," Chalamet said. "The Dark Knight made me want to act. Inception inspired me. When I read the script to Interstellar, I thought it was gonna change the world. And I learned as much from him as I learned from you."

Why 'Interstellar' stuck with him

Chalamet has called 'Interstellar' his personal favorite movie before, and it clearly left a mark beyond the screen. The way he tells it, the atmosphere on set reset his bar for how to approach the work.

"You guys took the work extremely seriously. I got a sense from you two that you felt like you were walking on sacred ground. You were like, 'This is sacred. I don't want to treat this as anything other than sacred.' And it was just so inspiring. It was hard to go back to college after that."

The quick catch-up

• At 30, Chalamet is the youngest actor since Marlon Brando to notch three Best Actor Oscar nominations.
• He is currently nominated again this year for his starring role in 'Marty Supreme.'
• He has teamed with major directors including Luca Guadagnino, Josh Safdie, Denis Villeneuve, and Greta Gerwig — but calls Christopher Nolan his favorite.
• Chalamet appeared in one Nolan film, 'Interstellar,' playing the younger version of McConaughey's character's son.
• He has said 'Interstellar' is his favorite movie and the project he enjoyed working on most, even though his role was relatively small.
• As for Nolan, 'Interstellar' still sits comfortably among the filmmaker's signature achievements.

Short version: Chalamet's cinematic north star is Nolan, and 'Interstellar' didn't just launch him — it rewired him.