Timothee Chalamet’s ‘Number 1 Priority’ Is to Surpass Mentor Leonardo DiCaprio’s Career

Timothée Chalamet has been tipped for years as the next Leonardo DiCaprio type, and a friend close to the actor reveals exclusively to Life & Style how he’s been quietly obsessed with his older role model whilst taking cues from his style and vying to one day surpass him.

"Timmy is open about his admiration for Leo and even about the times he has directly sought Leo's advice, but there's definitely a double-edged sword to this kind of obsession he has to be aware of,” the source says.

Timothée, 28, revealed in September 2022 that his Don’t Look Up Costar , Leo, 49, gave him some useful advice on set while they were filming.

“No hard drugs,” Leo told him, “and no superhero movies.”

Even though Timothée has stated it was Heath Ledger ’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight that inspired him to become an actor, the Dune hero hasn’t gone super on the big screen yet. That means Timothée is likely taking his mentor’s advice to heart, but he’s also taking another page out of the Titanic actor’s playbook – being notoriously picky about the scripts he chooses to accept!

“Leo has devoted his entire adult life to being a certain kind of movie star,” the insider says, “carefully picking projects and cultivating a global fan base.”

Leo’s A-list strategy eventually landed him an Academy Award for portraying frontiersman Philip Glass in Alexander Iñárritu ’s The Revenant , which required steadfast commitment to early 19th-century authenticity, including eating raw bison liver and crawling inside of a gutted bison carcass.

Even though there have been no reports about any radical changes to Timothée’s diet, the insider warns that following Leo’s footsteps too closely comes at a cost.

“ It can be a very lonely life at the top and it's obviously kept Leo from starting a family of his own or even having much of a personal life outside of his lavish vacations and his environmental work,” the insider says.

Timothée shares a similar career trajectory with Leo, at least for now. Both began as child actors and eventually hit breakout roles as young men – Leo as Arnie Grape, the brother of Johnny Depp ’s lead character in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape , and Timothée as Tom Cooper, the son of Matthew McConoughey ’s lead character in Interstellar .

After playing second to A-list stars at the time, both actors began signing on to leading roles and making a name for themselves – Leo with The Basketball Diaries and Timothée with Call Me by Your Name .

“But this is what Timmy wants, and it's why he has carefully studied Leo since he was a teenager and why he made a point of paying his respects to Leo when he became a full-blown leading man in the last couple of years.”

“As rosy as things have been between Timmy and Kylie Jenner , she is best positioned to see where Timmy's priorities are.”

Timothée and Kylie, 27, were first rumored to be linked in April 2023 before making their public debut as a couple at a Beyoncé concert for the singer’s Renaissance World Tour in September.

“I can tell you,” the source continues, “his number one priority is to build a career that's even bigger than Leo's – by any means necessary."