Timothée Chalamet Ventriloquist Dummy

About

Timothée Chalamet Ventriloquist Dummy refers to a viral doll made in the likeness of actor Timothée Chalamet. Originally posted on online auction site eBay, the image of the doll, which many consider creepy and funny, was also the subject of various image macros and image edits.

Origin

On March 31st, 2019, Instagram ^[12] user @talkingheadstudios posted the first image of the doll (shown below). They wrote, "Getting ready to add freckles and moles to @tchalamet. (Hair drawn for effect until wig is finished)."

On May 25th, Instagram^[13] they posted the doll, writing, "Finished @tchalamet! When I work on the outfits for my dummies, I generally binge Project Runway, as inspiration and love to imagine @ninagarcia loving the fit of their pants (lol). Outfit was replicated from a red carpet look, by @louisvuitton." The post received more than 75 likes in less than one month (shown below).

Spread

On June 3rd, 2019, eBay^[1] user chriala4 launched an auction for the "One Of A Kind Timothee Chalamet Ventriloquist Figure with Louis Vuitton Harness!" In the description, the user wrote:

You are bidding on a one of a kind, handcrafted Timothee Chalamet ventriloquist figure, dressed in a recreation of the Louis Vuitton outfit worn to the 2019 Golden Globes, complete with beaded and sequined harness. Head, hands and ankle boots were all hand sculpted and wardrobe was custom made. Figure stands 26 inches tall and also sits independently. Body is made of white pine, upholstered in foam and quilted fabric. Head is controlled from inside body (accessed from back) by a head stick, which is outfitted with a spring loaded head lock, to keep head in place when not in use. Makes a perfect gift for any occasion, from baby shower to bar mitzvah! Sorry, due to the very low price on this, stand is not included.

Additionally, the user posted several photographs of the doll (shown below). Although it received no bids, they launched the auction with the opening bid of US $122,795.00, a reference to Chalamet's birthday of December 27th, 1995.

That day, Twitter user @foxymulder666 tweeted,^[2] "So y’all trying to tell me I’m the only one obsessed with timothée Chalamet ventriloquist doll? They got my man looking like Kim Jong-il" (shown below, left).

Later that week, the dummy grew in viral popularity. On June 9th, Twitter^[3] user @GracesBliss tweeted, "My therapist: The Timothée Chalamet ventriloquist figure isn’t real and can’t hurt you
The Timothée Chalamet ventriloquist figure." The tweet received more than 12,000 likes and 2,000 retweets in three days (shown below, center).

The following day, the movies website Birth.Movies.Death posted an image of the doll edited into the poster for Toy Story 4. ^[4] They wrote, "EXCLUSIVE: Pixar's TOY STORY 4 has added the Timothée Chalamet ventriloquist dummy to its cast of characters." Within two days, the tweet received mroe than 840 likes and 100 retweets (shown below, right).

On June 11th, 2019, Vulture^[5] published an interview with the creator of the figure, Chris Alan. In the interview, Alan explained the design, I don’t think they understand, first of all, that it’s not necessarily supposed to be a perfect likeness. It’s not a portrait, per se, it’s more of a caricature. It’s meant to be fun. Things are exaggerated! His jawline is clearly not as pronounced as I made it. You can’t really see his ears [in photos], but they stick out. You accentuate those things in a caricature."

Several media outlets reported on the dummy, including Mashable, ^[6] The AV Club,^[7] BuzzFeed, ^[8] PopBuzz^[9] and more. Additionally, Twitter published several Moments pages on the doll.^[10][11]

Search interest

External References