Timothee Chalamet insists that his unconventional promotion tours aren't a gimmick.

The 30-year-old actor has been questioned for his unorthodox methods of promoting his movies but insists that stunts such as turning the Las Vegas sphere into a ping-pong ball for Marty Supreme are a way of "expressing myself".

Chalamet said during a Q+A at London's Prince Charles Cinema on Sunday (01.02.26): "Here's the thing -- this risks killing any mystery around it, but I really don't look at it as promotion or marketing. I see myself as an artist expanding.

"And certainly the Zoom had a little bit of satire to it, but the initial video in the glass box, those [ping-pong ball] heads, I feel like I'm expressing myself.

"You know, a lot of people want to be told what to say, how to say it and where to stand -- I'm talking on the acting front. Also, people don't want to misstep. I feel like I've got the keys, I've got the right attitude, I've got the juice."

Timothee sung Bob Dylan tracks on Saturday Night Live last year to promote his role in the biopic A Complete Unknown and revealed that he spent big-money to fund the performance.

He said: "I spent over six figures out of my pocket to do the SNL performance. Lorne Michaels said, 'Hey, do you want to host SNL?' I said, 'Yeah, can I do the music?' He's like, 'No.' I said, 'Alright, I'm not doing it.' He said, 'OK, do the music.' But I refused to take no for an answer."

The Dune star continued: "This is the new way of doing stuff. I'm trying to reach audiences, you know. I don't want to be in the pretentious in-crowd.

"Marty Supreme in America had the least frequent moviegoing audience this year -- people that weren't going to see everything. That's my favourite feedback on the movie. So the most pretentious answer I could give you, which I actually honestly feel, is that it's not marketing or promotion. That sounds like a gimmick, and this is not a gimmick. This is coming from my heart and my soul."

Chalamet explained that he adopts a similar approach when it comes to preparing for his acting roles.

The four-time Academy Award nominee said: "I feel like Method energy, that's kind of my thing. So that just means being in the tone of the film… I think anything too calculated -- some actors are like that, that's not really my style."