Timothée Chalamet “leveling up” his life and career with a little help from his friends

Timothée Chalamet graces the cover of GQ for a third time, and he talks about “leveling up” in his career and his life.

He also leans into those who’ve been inspiring him, including his Dune: Part Two co-stars Austin Butler and Zendaya. Oh, and some guy named Tom Cruise.

“It started on Zoom,” Chalamet said of meeting Butler, who was already in character during a read-through. “I can’t overstate how inspiring it was to me personally.”

He says while Butler “takes the work incredibly seriously,” off-camera he’s a “tremendously affable, wonderful man.”

Chalamet also took a cue from Butler to play Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown. He snagged Butler’s entire Elvis team, including his former dialect, vocal and movement coaches. “I just saw the way he committed to it all — and realized I needed to step it up,” Chalamet says.

Also helping him step up was Cruise, who sent a “wonderfully inspiring” email after seeing him in Dune. The Mission: Impossible star included “a Rolodex . . . of experts” he might need, from stunt trainers to helicopter coaches.

“He basically said, in Old Hollywood, you would be getting dance training and fight training, and nobody is going to hold you to that standard today. So it’s up to you,” Chalamet recalls.

Chalamet also says it was “incredibly valuable” to spend time with Zendaya and her Spider-Man franchise co-star boyfriend, Tom Holland, who visited the Dune sequel set. “They’re level … They’re good-energy Hollywood. And then Austin and [co-star] Florence [Pugh]. I feel like I’m creating a community for myself of people who care about the right things.”

“Look at Zendaya,” Chalamet adds. “Just how much she’s able to achieve while also sort of letting everything roll off her back is mega-inspiring. She’s just doing.”