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A Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest that started out as a joke turned into pandemonium over the weekend when the real-life actor showed up to the Washington Square Park event.
The Dune star came with bodyguards in tow to crash the event which brought out hundreds of people to the park flanked by NYU buildings on all sides, the same park I used to bring my Bernese mountain dog to every day when I lived just three blocks away for years. It’s a great park and one that often turns out quirky events with the arch in the background.
Growing up, Timothée Chalamet split his time between NYC and France but was primarily raised in Manhattan. He attended the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and then Columbia University for 1 year before transferring to NYU so not only is he well acquainted with the area it was a bit of a homecoming for him to return to Washington Square Park and be mobbed by fellow NYU folks.
When he showed up, the crowd went wild. Videos from the event are borderline hilarious. It’s his most diehard fans all concentrated into one crowd and he’s there to greet them:
Not to be lost in the shuffle is how good the Timothée Chalamet look-alikes were. They covered the full range of Chalamet’s roles. There was a Timothée for everyone:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFgw6Ljn/
The organizers of the event were hit with a crippling $500 fine for what the NYPD deemed to be an “unpermitted costume contest.” NYC is big on permits.
Somehow, with only a $50 prize for the winner announced there were thousands of people who RSVP’d to the event online. It turned into a genuine viral event IRL. All of that seemed to be enough to get Timothée Chalamet himself there and the rest was history!