Charlize Theron makes controversial AI statement as she rips into Timothee Chalamet

Timothee Chalamet might be one of the best known actors in the world but the young star seemingly still has a lot to learn about the arts.

Although he's portrayed characters ranging from Bob Dylan to Willy Wonka, where musical talents are key, he was a little dismissive of that side of the arts recently.

Chalamet has always had a certain flippancy to his interviews, even suggesting that Susan Boyle was one of his heroes recently, but one of his comments about opera and ballet didn't land well at all.

During a CNN & Variety Town Hall Event, the 30-year-old said: “I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, [who] go on a talk show and go, ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theatres alive. You know, we gotta keep this genre alive'.

“And another part of me feels like, if people wanna see it, like ‘Barbie,’ like ‘Oppenheimer,’ they’re gonna go see it and go out of their way and be loud and proud about it. And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive.’ Even though it’s like, no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership.”

Chalamet's come under some fire for his comments (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

Unsurprisingly, the Marty Supreme star faced plenty of backlash from those within the ballet and opera communities, with a ballet dancer even going front and centre in a Sinners live musical performance at the Oscars earlier this year, as the French-American actor missed out again.

And now, Charlize Theron has got in on the act, although she took things further by suggesting that he could even be replaced by AI one day, whereas ballet dancing is something she thinks is beyond the technology's capabilities.

She told the New York Times: "Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day. That was a very reckless comment on an art form, two art forms, that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in 10 years, AI is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live.

Theron seems to have a lot of faith in AI's acting abilities (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

“And we shouldn’t **** on other art forms. Dance taught me discipline. It taught structure. It taught hard work. It taught me to be tough. It’s borderline abusive. There were several times that I had blood infections from blisters that just never healed. And you don’t get a day off. I’m literally talking about bleeding through your shoes. And that’s something that you have to practice every single day, the mind-set of just, you don’t give up, there’s no other option, you keep going.”

Considering some of the AI slop you see online, as well as the backlash against AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood, it's hard to see Chalamet being replaced by the technology anytime soon, unless we really do just want to give up as a species.