Hollywood actress Charlize Theron has criticised Timothée Chalamet’s remarks about the relevance of ballet and opera, saying artificial intelligence could one day replace his work.

In an interview with The New York Times, Theron called Chalamet’s comments “very reckless” and defended the value of traditional performing arts.

“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,” she said.

Theron, who trained in dance before making her acting debut, emphasised on the physical and mental toll of the discipline. “Dance is probably one of the hardest things I ever did. Dancers are superheroes. What they put their bodies through in complete silence,” she said.

“And we shouldn’t [expletive] 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,” she added.

“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,” the actress further said.

The comments were in response to Chalamet’s remarks at a CNN & Variety Town Hall Event, where he said he did not want cinema to become like “ballet or opera,” suggesting artists in those fields are trying to sustain forms that audiences no longer prioritise.

“I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, [who] go on a talk show and go, ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theaters alive. You know, we gotta keep this genre alive,’” Chalamet said.

“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.”