The uproar over Timothe Chalamets comments on opera and ballet may have died down, but the stars Call Me by Your Name director has belatedly come to his defense.

Luca Guadagnino spoke to Italian daily La Stampa over the weekend ahead of the premiere of his adaptation of John Adams 1991 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, in Florence.

The filmmaker, whose gay 2017 age-gap romance threw Chalamet into the mainstream and earned him his first Oscar nomination, touched on the 30-year-olds viral faux pas earlier this year, where he said no one really cares about ballet or opera. (Such was the public ire around his statement that it was Conan OBriens opening quip at Marchs Academy Awards.) Guadagnino, conceded that the star could have spared himself. Translated from Italian, he told La Stampa: I am not on social media and dont understand how one [single] comment can become a planetary polemic.

Maybe Timothe could have spared himself. But hes young, smart, sensitive, and he fears that cinema could become marginal. And thats exactly why every form of imagination should be nurtured. We must unite the arts, not separate them, Guadagnino added.

The pair havent worked together since 2022s Bones and All, in which Chalamet co-starred with Taylor Russell.

The young actor was hoping to earn his first Oscar for his performance in Josh Safdies ping-pong caper Marty Supreme, but a bold awards campaign took a nose-dive in early March, unhelped by Chalamets opera-ballet comments.

I dont want to be working in ballet or opera where its like, Hey! Keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore, he said with a laugh in a live conversation with Matthew McConaughey forVariety and CNN. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there I just lost 14 cents in viewership. Im taking shots for no reason.

American opera singer Isabel Leonard responded at the time: Honestly, Im shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow-minded in his views about art while considering himself as [an] artist as I would only imagine one would as an actor, while Canadian opera performer Deepa Johnny called it a disappointing take.

She continued: There is nothing more impressive than the magic of live theatre, ballet and opera. We should be trying to uplift these art forms, these artists and come together across disciplines to do that.

Chalamet will next be seen in Decembers buzzy Dune concluder from Denis Villeneuve.