On the Ground at the Timothée Chalamet Lookalike Competition

The day began in Washington Square Park, with hundreds of people assembling for the event based on flyers advertising it around the city. The flyers included a QR code to an online invitation with more than 2,000 confirmed RSVPs, but the organizer of the event remained a mystery – the only clue was an avatar of a man in a top hat and the pseudonym “Gilbert.”

Under the marble arch, everyone gathered to see the lineup of Timothées. One of them, Jackson Garrett, wondered what the reason was for the event: “Is it a marketing ploy for his new movie? Are people gonna find love? There are a thousand reasons to come here.” Garrett had a makeup artist come to his house to help him achieve Chalamet’s look, complete with filled-in eyebrows and a contoured jawline.

Another contestant, Alexander Dueve, opted for an all-black outfit with a scarf and gloves inspired by Paul Atreides, Chalamet’s character in Dune. “My girlfriend sent me the flyer and said, ‘You gotta come and check this out,’” he said.

Miles Mitchell, dressed like Willy Wonka, came all the way from Staten Island. “It’s a cool event,” he said, opening his briefcase to reveal a trove of Halloween candy. “I've never seen anything like this before.” People have always told Mitchell he looks like the actor, and he even went viral in a TikTok last year for his Chalamet-inspired haircut. He told PAPER he came to have fun, meet people and perhaps find an opportunity to break into modeling.

A young blonde woman in a mint green dress interrupted our conversation to hand Mitchell a business card she'd made specifically for this event. Her name was Sommer Mae Campbell and she was there to meet a skinny young man, she said.

I asked her what it was about Chalamet that drew in so many women. She had an interesting theory: “I feel like women all secretly want a World War One soldier, or like, a plague victim, to play old-timey nurse with. A man that kind of looks like he's dying of malnutrition.”

While she was happy to hand out her business cards to doppelgängers, Campbell was still hoping for the real Chalamet to show up. Jokingly, I told her she could take down Kylie Jenner if need be. “I don’t have money put into my nose where I would be mad if it got broken,” she said.

Bryce Perry, a contestant wearing a leather jacket and ripped jeans, was visiting New York on tour with his band – basically, he was a real-life Kyle from Ladybird. But he knew the contest was about more than looks. “Personality-wise, [Chalamet] is pretty antsy, right? He’s pretty fidgety, and I'm definitely pretty fidgety,” he said.

Then, a man in a baseball hat who looked remarkably like Timothée Chalamet showed up. That’s because he was Timothée Chalamet.

With a bodyguard one step behind him, he moved through the screaming throngs of people and snapped a few photos with his lookalikes. Chalamet was not there to compete and he did not stay long, but the overexcited crowd he left behind did warrant a police response. One lookalike got into an argument with a cop, and suddenly he was being handcuffed and taken away. People were shouting at the cops: “What did he do?” One contestant, Brendan Heaney, told me he heard someone shout, “Arrakis has fallen!”

People began to worry that the event would get shut down. But then, we got a text blast:

WE CANNOT BE STOPPED! COME TO MERCER PLAYGROUND DOWN THE STREET TO COME MEET OUR TIMOTHÉES!

I looked up and saw the organizer of the event for the first time. A young man with piercing blue eyes, dressed in a three-piece Victorian suit and top hat – just like his avatar – carrying a six-foot trophy and leading the crowd down Waverly Place. It was a parade of Timothée Chalamets. A march, if you will. Traffic was stopped and drivers were honking. When we reached the new location, I and many others had to climb a fence just so we could see the contest.

I was perched next to Matilde Pendola, a high school senior wearing a red beanie, who told me the lore of the man in the top hat. He’s a YouTube star named Anthony Po who, earlier this year, posted flyers inviting strangers to watch him eat an entire box of cheese balls in Union Square Park. So, when Pendola spotted a flyer for the Timothée Chalamet contest while taking a walk one day, she knew she had to attend out of curiosity. “I had a feeling it was going to be AnthPo,” she said.

The Timothées answered questions from a panel of judges. What would you do with the $50 prize? Would you date Kylie Jenner? Say something in French. One by one, they captured hearts, and one by one, they were eliminated, until it came down to Mitchell and Dueve – Willy Wonka and Paul Atreides. They both received thunderous rounds of applause, but ultimately, it was Mitchell who took home the prize. Po handed him the six-foot trophy and a giant cardboard check for $50 made out to “Best Tim.”

Everyone went home happy. Dueves and his girlfriend left hand-in-hand. Mitchell said he planned to use the $50 to buy more candy. Campbell tossed the rest of her business cards on the ground and said she would keep me posted on any dates she gets. I heard that an Australian Chalamet lookalike even got a few girls’ phone numbers. And Po, the enigmatic ringleader of the event, was wrapping up with the judges. He would soon ride away on his penny farthing, one of those bicycles from the 1800s with a giant front wheel. He was smiling.

“We got a lovely $500 fine,” he told PAPER, proudly flashing a pink slip he received from a park ranger, “but ‘tis the price of culture.”

Photography: Zac Thompson