The stars of A Complete Unknown are holding space.
Timothée Chalamet, 29 and Elle Fanning, 26 — who both star in the new biopic following musician Bob Dylan’s life — sat down for an interview with Out journalist Tracy Gilchrist, who went viral in November when interviewing Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The reporter embraced the “holding space” meme while interviewing the A Complete Unknown duo on Dec. 28.
“First off, I just want to let you know that I am holding space for you,” Gilchrist said to Chalamet and Fanning, who play Dylan and Sylvie Russo, respectively.
The costars replied that speaking to Gilchrist left them “starstruck.” They quickly recreated the funny interaction between Grande and Erivo — the last time Gilchrist said the now-iconic “holding space” line.
Chalamet held out his index finger and Fanning pinched it with her thumb and pointer finger.
Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
In the original interview that went viral in November, Gilchrist told the Wicked costars that the LGBTQ+ community was connecting with and “holding space with” the lyrics of “Defying Gravity.”
In a later interview with VarietyGrande said that in that moment, Erivo looked like she might cry. So Grande provided support to her friend the only way she could think of in the moment — clutching Erivo’s index finger and tapping her long acrylic nail.
“I just wanted to be there because I knew something big was happening,” said Grande, 31 of Erivo, 37.
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The singer-actress also admitted she didn’t know what “holding space” meant. Her confusion compounded with Erivo’s reaction — Erivo quickly grew emotional and responded, “I didn’t know that was happening.”
When the interview went viral, Grande was relieved that others also seemed a bit baffled by the interaction.
“I feel really relieved that the world had the same experience with this moment that I did, because I felt like, ‘Oh I’m not broken,’” she said, adding, “The best thing to is to really hold space with that.”
Both Wicked and A Complete Unknown — which debuted Nov. 22 and Dec. 25, respectively — are now playing in theaters.
