Armie Hammer's 'Call Me' dance was 'one of the most painful scenes I've shot in my life'

Patrick Ryan | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Why dancing is 'painful' for Armie Hammer Some of us aren't born with the gift of the dance. Armie Hammer included.

There are two things that anyone who's seen Call Me By Your Name can't stop talking about: that infamous peach scene and Armie Hammer's dance moves.

Attempting to describe the actor's uninhibited jig is a fool's errand, falling somewhere between "The Wop" and "Roger Rabbit" as he punches the air and hops from foot to foot in a 1980s-era Italian nightclub.

"I just wanted to find as many '80s dance moves as I could," Hammer tells USA TODAY. "Personally, I've never in my life said out loud, 'Hey, I've got a night free. Let's go dancing!' That's just not my thing. I mean, I'll dance if I get drunk enough, but I'm never like, 'I'm totally sober. I just feel like moving to the music!' It's just never hit me like that."

In the scene, which is set to the Psychedelic Furs' Love My Way, Oliver (Hammer) boogies as his soon-to-be-lover Elio (Timothée Chalamet) admires from afar before joining in. But the two days it took to shoot were actually quite awkward for Hammer — not only because he had to get his groove on, but because he often had to do so with no accompanying music.

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"That was one of the most painful scenes I've shot in my life," Hammer says. "They would start the scene and it'd be the Psychedelic Furs (song), and then they would kill the music and start (filming). So I'd just be dancing and jumping around in silence, looking around at 500 extras just staring at you.

"Of everything we shot in this movie, that was the most difficult scene for me," he continues. "I was miserable. I was not having a good time."

The experience wasn't quite so tough for Chalamet, who gyrates and glides across the dance floor with ease.

"Timmy is an excellent dancer," Hammer says. "It made it all the more frustrating when I was dancing around having the worst time of my life, and then I'd look over at Timmy, who was not even on (camera), dancing really well."

But his co-star is quick to defend him — at least jokingly.

"Armie is an exquisite dancer and actually reduced his dancing ability as a character choice in the film," Chalamet insists.

You can find out for yourself: Call Me By Your Name is now in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, and expands nationwide through December and January.