New York
CNN
—

We were on the road at 2 a.m., and after a missed flight and a seven-hour drive from upstate New York, I finally made it to the city. I was with my girlfriend, one of the few people – besides my parents and a handful of friends – who knew what I was going to do. I wasn’t supposed to be working this weekend at my job at a tackle shop (where I sell bait and tackle and keep moored boats stocked). I’m grateful for that, because I’m not sure how else I would have explained the situation to my boss.

How do I request time off for a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest?

I saw the competition flyer on the internet a few weeks ago and thought this could be fun. My girlfriend is a big Chalamet fan and was excited about the whole idea. So I signed up as a participant and jokingly posted a selfie to the organizers – all it took to participate. I wasn’t sure if the Manhattan event was real. But when it became clear that it was legit, I bought a plane ticket. It didn’t cost much, as transportation and a few nights’ stay amounted to about $400. After all, this can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I wasn’t nervous. If anything, I was pumped. I’ve been thinking about moving to New York City for a while now—hopefully once I finish studying graphic design and multimedia marketing at State University of New York Canton (SUNY)—so this felt like a good opportunity. I want to do something creative, like make clothes, make videos or model, so I reasoned that the event could be a good networking opportunity. Isn’t that how people get a job? Through connections?

The Chalamet comparisons started earlier this year when I grew out my dark, curly hair. People joked under Instagram posts that they liked me in ‘Dune 2’. I get looks from passers-by on the street and a colleague calls me Willy Wonka.

Friends also joke about the similarity. But the strangest moment happened last winter, when I went to Toronto with my girlfriend for the holidays. We were in a shopping center and saw a ‘Wonka’ pop-up with giant posters and a huge pink ‘chocolate tree’ just like the one from the movie.

I hadn’t been standing there long when a man working at the pop-up ran up to me. “I’ve seen so many people come through here, and you’re the only one who looks like Timothée. Put your name next to his!” he said, pointing to Chalamet’s signature on one of the posters. I immediately felt like an imposter. “I can’t draw that,” I told him. Disappointed, he insisted that I take a photo in the photoshoot room. Before I could say no, he and his colleagues rushed over with Wonka-style jacket in hand and took a photo. I still have that photo.

It’s funny to think that I felt uncomfortable posing for that photo, and yet I was traveling to an event where people take hundreds or even thousands of similar photos.

When I arrived at Washington Square Park in Manhattan on Sunday, half an hour before the game was to start, there were already at least a thousand people in the crowd.

For a while, all I could see were phone screens: people recording me, taking my picture, and asking to talk to me. At first it was overwhelming. I felt rushed by the TV cameras and journalists, as if I were an animal in the zoo or a circus. I was afraid that participants would be asked to perform or walk in front of all these people. I heard some boos and cheers from the other side of the park (I later saw online that it was the crowd judging other participants), but I stayed under the Washington Square Arch.

I met a few other lookalikes and we stuck together amid the pandemonium. The NYPD issued a dispersal order and at one point an officer approached me and yelled at me to leave the park. I ignored him and walked away, but I saw another participant being handcuffed and dragged out of the area. (The NYPD has since confirmed that it fined organizers $500 for an “unauthorized costume contest,” and that at least one participant was led away in handcuffs, although a police spokesperson told the Associated Press that charges are pending. )

When the real Timothée Chalamet made a surprise appearance, the energy intensified. However, he was gone in a flash, disappearing into the crowd and walking back to a car at the edge of the park. I think he knew that if he had stayed too long, things would have escalated.

I planned my outfit earlier this week: a gray T-shirt, a black leather jacket, ankle boots, and straight-leg jeans so I would look skinnier. I tried to recreate Chalamet’s look from the Chanel perfume campaign he starred in this summer. Some other Timothée’s, including the winner, dressed up as Willy Wonka. I didn’t get a good look at him, but I think they gave him the $50 prize (and a trophy) because he committed to it by handing out chocolate. I wasn’t interested in winning, but it was flattering when people told me later that I should have taken first place.

This will be my one and only lookalike contest. While I loved my three hours of fame (I have to admit I felt a rush at being “recognized”), it also had its downsides. The looks, the people who pull and touch you, who photograph you. Luckily for me, as soon as it was over, I was able to go out for tacos with my girlfriend – no fans crowding the table, no disguises, no sneaky photos being taken across the restaurant. Next week I’ll go back to school and my job at the fish store as if nothing happened.

And as fun as it was to be Timothée Chalamet for an afternoon, I’m really glad I’m Reed Putman.