‘Societal Collapse Is In The Air’: Timothée Chalamet Says Social Media Makes It ‘Tough To Be Alive’ While Promoting Movie About Cannibals

 Actor Timothée Chalamet is saying it’s “tough to be alive” during an era that’s so obsessed with social media.

“To be young now, and to be young whenever — I can only speak for my generation — is to be intensely judged,” the 26-year-old “Dune” star said during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, according to E! News.

Chalamet was sitting on a panel promoting his new movie “Bones and All,” which has made waves for being about teenage cannibals taking a road trip. He mentioned that it was a “relief” to portray the character in the movie because the setting was rural America in the 1980s, long before social media existed.

“I can’t imagine what it is to grow up without the onslaught of social media, and it was a relief to play characters who are wrestling with an internal dilemma absent the ability to go on Reddit, or Twitter, Instagram or TikTok and figure out where they fit in,” he continued. 

“Without casting judgment on that, you can find your tribe there, but I think it’s tough to be alive now. I think societal collapse is in the air—or it smells like it—and, without being pretentious, that’s why hopefully movies matter, because that’s the role of the artist… to shine a light on what’s going on.”

The movie received a ten minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. 

“Bones and All” is a tale of “first love” between cannibals Maren (Taylor Russell) and Lee (Chalamet), who embark on a “1,000-mile odyssey that takes them through the back roads, hidden passages, and trap doors of Ronald Reagan’s America.”

“But, despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts,” the description says, “and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their otherness.”

Critic reviews so far have been very positive. Time notes how the film “pleads sympathy for those who crave human flesh: in the movie’s universe, they’re tragic figures, a little like vampires but not nearly as sexy, people who didn’t ask to be born with such unholy cravings but who must learn to live with them nonetheless.”

The review goes on to describe “Bones and All” as “artful and tender,” but all  “occasionally almost too tense and brutal to bear.”

The movie will be available in theaters beginning November 23.