When Timothée Chalamet was asked to name his top five Britons few would have expected him to pick a 64-year-old Scottish woman best known for an appearance on Britain’s Got Talent more than a decade ago.
The American actor, 29, who has appeared in films including Wonka and Dune, initially tackled the question from the BBC’s entertainment correspondent with some more predictable choices.
“Lewis Hamilton, Victoria and David [Beckham],” he said. After a considered pause, Chalamet provoked surprised laughter with his final pick: “Susan Boyle.”
Pressed to justify his leftfield decision to pick the Scottish singer who shot to fame for her surprise rendition of Les Misérables’s I Dreamed A Dream on the variety show in 2009, Chalamet did not hesitate to give an earnest answer.
He said: “She dreamt big — bigger than all of us. Who wasn’t moved by that? I remember that like it was yesterday. That was like the advent of YouTube, you know.”
Boyle’s appearance on the ITV talent show 16 years ago became the most-watched viral clip of the year. It led to a major record deal, global fame, multi-million album sales, and a sustained international music career.
The six-minute video in which Boyle wows judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan has since notched up more than 264 million views on YouTube alone.
Its success led to ITV and The X Factor producers Fremantle renegotiating their deals with YouTube to allow for adverts to be sold around clips of their programmes.
The rapper Fakemink was another of the actor’s picks
SIMONE JOYNER/GETTY IMAGES
Chalamet’s other top Brit pick went to Fakemink, the London rapper who recently collaborated with anonymous Liverpudlian drill artist EsDeeKid, who some have speculated is the Hollywood actor.
Chalamet is currently on a promotional tour for his forthcoming 1950s table tennis film Marty Supreme, which has involved him presenting jackets bearing the name to those he considers great. Recipients so far have included the swimmer Michael Phelps, the NFL legend Tom Brady and Barcelona footballer Lamine Yamal.
• Susan Boyle taking piano and driving lessons on road to recovery
Earlier this week Chalamet said that Josh Safdie’s sports drama is an “antidote to dark times” and one of the films he is “most proud of”.
He added: “It is an incredible, unconventional movie with an incredible, unconventional director. It’s about the pursuit of the singular dream of following your heart. I believe it is an important film to put out now. I hope this movie can serve as an antidote to the dark times because ultimately it is about dreaming big.
“What starts off as a table tennis movie evolves into a heist film, and lands in a very human place. It is one of the films I am most proud of.”