A professional lip reader has shared what she believes was said during a brief interaction between Timothée Chalamet and his sister at the Oscars.
Chalamet was up for Best Actor at the 98th Academy Awards thanks to his performance in Marty Supreme.
The Dune actor ultimately missed out on the trophy, which went to Michael B. Jordan for Sinners—making Jordan the sixth Black actor to win an Oscar for a lead role.
It was an especially strong evening for Sinners, which earned a record-breaking 16 nominations. That said, the all-time record for most wins still remains shared by Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), each with 11 victories.
Chalamet arrived at the ceremony alongside his partner Kylie Jenner, and lip reader Nicola Hickling has now offered her interpretation of a moment involving Chalamet and his sister Pauline.
In comments to The Mirror, Hickling said Chalamet appeared to ask Pauline to approach Jenner gently during the night, interpreting him as saying she should ‘go easy’ on her.
At one point during the ceremony, Chalamet was seen turning to Pauline and asking: “Where are you sitting?”
After Pauline indicated where she was seated, Jenner appeared to extend her hand to greet her, and also seemed to compliment Pauline’s look for the evening.
Hickling also suggested Chalamet checked in with his sister, asking: “How you doing?”
Later, Chalamet leaned in again and appeared to reference Jenner, asking Pauline: “Could you go easy on her?”
According to Hickling’s reading, Pauline responded with ‘okay’, before Chalamet reiterated: “I want you to go easy on her.”
Chalamet has been highly visible throughout the awards circuit while campaigning for Marty Supreme, but he drew criticism recently after a comment about traditional performing arts such as opera and ballet.
While speaking at an event at the University of Texas alongside Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet said: “I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.”
The remark prompted backlash online, and Oscars host Conan O’Brien referenced it during the ceremony with a joke, saying: “Security is extremely tight tonight. I’m told there’s concern about attacks from both the opera and ballet community. You’re just mad you left out jazz!”