Timothée Chalamet Explains How He Got into Character for ‘Edward Scissorhands’ Super Bowl Commercial
Feb. 6 might be known as the day many are tuning into the Super Bowl, but Timothée Chalamet and Winona Ryder stole the show before the game even started. The two star in a commercial for Cadillac in which Chalamet plays Edward Scissorhands‘ son, Edgar. The original movie, directed by Tim Burton, came out in 1990 and starred Johnny Depp, Ryder, and Dianne Wiest. Ryder returns to the world of Edward Scissorhands by playing her original role of Kim Boggs. Chalamet revealed in a new interview how he prepared for the Super Bowl commercial character and why he wanted to do it.
What Timothée Chalamet’s newest commercial shows
The 90-second Super Bowl commercial shows Edgar turning off his alarm with his scissor hands, helping his mom chop up a pineapple, and walking into a lecture about magnets and having all of them fly toward his hands.
Edgar also accidentally deflates a football and works at a fast-casual restaurant. He waits for his mother outside while she’s stuck at a meeting. Throughout the trailer, he’s struggling to fit in due to his razor-sharp fingers.
At the end, his mom surprises him with an all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ that he is pleased he can operate swimmingly even with his scissor hands.
“And Edgar drove off into the sunset, but don’t worry, he still makes it home in time for dinner…occasionally,” Kim’s character says as the two are happily together in the car.
What attracted Timothée Chalamet to this commercial and character
Chalamet spoke with Vogue in a new interview about the experience to bring the Edward Scissorhands universe back to life.
He credited loving Edward Scissorhands as a movie growing up. Chalamet also cited the sustainable efforts of Cadillac’s LYRIQ car for bringing him onto the project. And, he loves the original film’s director.
“I grew up an enormous Tim Burton fan,” he expressed to Vogue. “And while the projects I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of have often been grounded in realism, and grounded in this universe, I’ve been increasingly — especially as I’ve gotten to know Tim over the past couple of months — drawn to fables and stories that get to the essence of who we are in fantastical fashion.”
He added that working with commercial director David Shane was a really collaborative experience.
How Timothée Chalamet got into the character for the commercial
Chalamet also spoke about how this character came to life to Vogue.
“This was a wonderful opportunity to hopefully make the original material relatable to a modern audience without sacrificing the originality of the 1990 version,” Chalamet said. “Instead, we wanted to create a character that didn’t make you blink in terms of a present-day setting, but was a total homage to the character Johnny Depp created.”
Chalamet worked with costume designer Melissa DesRosiers to blend the original movie’s feel while giving it an updated spin.
“We used beat up iPhone charger cables for his shoelaces,” he spoke about the costuming for Edgar. “And more grungy feeling flannels with scissor cuts throughout. But we also use the iconic moon crescent from Johnny’s original belt buckle costume as a sort of shoulder strap on Edgar’s costume as a small call back to the past.”
They also paid homage to the original by keeping Edgar’s leather “skin” and adding clothes on top of that.
“We had many wonderful opportunities to think about how a young Scissorhands would look like today.”
