Maika Monroe recalls working with Timothée Chalamet amid mounting backlash

Maika Monroe is looking back on the time she worked with Timothée Chalamet as backlash continues to mount over his recent comments about opera and ballet.

Monroe, who worked with the Grammy nominee in Hot Summer Nights when he was a somewhat under-the-radar actor, recalled his audition for the role.

"I mean, I had the part first, and I did chemistry reads with, you know, four different guys, and he was one of the kids that came in," she said about the Dune star when he was brought in to do a chemistry read with her following her casting.

"He was this tiny, little, skinny kid, and ... he walked in the room, and I was like, 'I just ... I don't know how we fit, like, romantically. I don't know if... physically [works]. And he just absolutely, like, blew it out of the water,” the Reminders of Him star raved.

She recounted when she first met the American-French heartthrob, he had "just filmed or was going to film Call Me By Your Name," so he wasn’t very known at that time.

"He left the room, and we're all just like, 'What just happened’” the Watcher actress recounted during the Monday, March 9 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

"I think he was always just destined for this. I think he was made for this job and this career, for sure," she gushed.

The 2017 crime-romance film saw Chalamet, now 30, act as a sheltered teenage boy who comes of age during a wild summer on Cape Cod, during which time he makes money selling drugs and falls in love with his business partner's sister (played by Monroe, now 32).

Monroe’s praise for her co-star comes as the latter finds himself in hot water over controversial remarks while eyeing his first Oscar.

Chalamet is facing significant backlash for stating that "no one cares" about ballet or opera anymore during a February 2026 Variety/CNN town hall with Matthew McConaughey.