Martin Scorsese's perfume ad with Timothée Chalamet is finally (actually!) here
After a full year of teasing, Scorsese's next great picture is out in the world
So many things have happened since Timothée Chalamet was first announced as the ambassador for Chanel’s Bleu de Chanel fragrance way back in May of 2023. Dune: Part Two was supposed to premiere in November, got delayed due to the strike, and then actually did premiere four months later, for one. But finally, after a full year of people reporting on the actor carousing around New York City with Martin Scorsese, multiple commercials for the commercial, and one leak that we admittedly fell for, the day has actually arrived.
Behold, in all its glory, Timothée Chalamet’s 90-second Chanel ad, directed by Martin Scorsese:
The first thing that jumps out here is the fact that the final cut of the ad is actually 90 seconds long, even though the Killers Of The Flower Moon director said in a behind-the-scenes look that “to think in terms of telling a story in 60 seconds, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been making pictures… it is probably the most difficult thing to do.” We guess even the best can’t resist the allure of a director’s cut.
The ad itself is, naturally, inspired by a 1968 Federico Fellini short called Toby Dammit. Chalamet—flanked by national treasure Francesca Scorsese and Bottoms breakout star Havana Rose Liu—is a young movie star living in a nonstop, black-and-white attention economy, yearning to escape through some sort of glowy, blue, perfume-scented portal to a version of New York City where he can walk freely and in-color without any cameras literally hitting him in the chest. And all of that in just 90 seconds! It’s Scorsese we’re talking about here, so we guess we can forgive him for breaking his own, 60-second barrier.
It also sounds like the two had a great working relationship. In a new interview with GQ about the spot (it’s seriously starting to feel like this thing got more press than Killers Of The Flower Moon), Chalamet sang the legendary director’s praises. “[B]eing a masterful director is made up of great ability to execute over decades of experience and decades of being inspired by the greats, but it’s also, you know, working with what’s given to you, even when you’re Martin Scorsese,” he said. If this is what they can do with less than two minutes and a clear sales objective, imagine what this partnership could do with a real movie.