Is Lydia Tar a real person? Viral staircase tweet debunked

Lydia Tar, the fictional character from the feature film Tar, has been in the news lately. Not only did the movie get nominated for six Oscars this year, including Best Actress for Cate Blanchett, but it also managed to get caught up in a hoax.

Rumors recently started doing the rounds on the internet that Lydia Tar had passed away. This led to a deluge of tweets that made people believe that Lydia is a real-life character.

The hoax began when the Twitter account @LydiaTarReal shared a tweet jokingly claiming that Lydia Tar had fallen down the stairs at the Dolby Theater and shared a photoshopped image in which Lydia can be seen falling from the staircase.

This rumor escalated when the same Twitter account shared the fake death announcement of Lydia and wrote,

"It is with a heavy heart that we share that Lydia Tár, world-renowned conductor and composer, died last night after falling down the steps of the Dolby Theater."

Soon after, the post went viral and has so far garnered 59.7k likes and 7,380 retweets at the time of writing.

Notably, the Twitter account @LydiaTarReal is a satirical account. It was created in November 2022, and enjoys a massive fan following of 25.6k followers.

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Lydia Tar is a fictional character from the movie Tar

Lydia Tar is neither a real-life character nor is the movie a biopic. The fictional character, played by Cate Blanchett, is shown as the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. As per Britannica, Antonia Brico is the first woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic.

Many people thought that Tar was a real-life person because the movie was marketed in a biopic style. The official synopsis of the movie gave people the idea that the character is real, as it reads,

"The film, set in the international world of classical music, centres on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer/conductors and first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra."

The opening scene of Tar begins with a real-life New York-based journalist talking about Lydia's long list of musical achievements, further adding to the illusion that the movie is a biopic. However, it all turned out to be fictional.

Before the release of the movie, a Wikipedia page was dedicated to Lydia Tar, but later it was made part of Tar's main page. It was reported that all of these tactics were taken to garner the attention of people and keep them invested in the character's chaotic story.

Tar is directed by Todd Field, and the movie was nominated for Best Director and Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Cate Blanchett also won Best Actress at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Critics' Choice Movie Awards. However, the movie did not win any awards at the Oscars.