“I say this not ironically, this is the most ‘me’ I was before I had a career,” Timothée Chalamet observes during a press event for Marty Supreme. “I say that delicately because he’s not the most admirable character, in some sense, because he is very motivated to achieve his goals. But I felt that was what I related to the most with this character, this fierce determination and drive to get to where I wanted in my career, and not take no for an answer. Especially in the film industry, where there’s so much rejection when you come out the gate, and really, the only person believing in yourself is you at the jump.”
Chalamet still seems to be in character as Marty Mauser, the table tennis superstar of the riveting drama Marty Supreme. The film brings Chalamet into the awards conversation once again on the heels of his Oscar-nominated turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Marty Supreme is nominated for three Golden Globes including Best Picture and Best Actor. If Chalamet takes the stage, one can probably expect another toast to greatness like he gave in his SAG Awards speech, which he admits came while riding off the high of playing Marty Mauser.
Whether one admires or abhors the sincerity, or cockiness, with which Chalamet expresses himself during the film’s press tour, there’s admittedly something very refreshing about a star rejecting the put-upon modesty that usually typifies celebrity behaviour at these events. In true Marty Mauser fashion, he thinks he’s the greatest. But this performance damn well gives Chalamet the right to believe that. It’s a true banger of a star turn that’s bound to be remembered in years to come like early Brando or De Niro performances are.
But even while sharing the confidence that fuels Marty in this exhilarating film by Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems), Chalamet carries a degree of chill when reflecting upon the importance of believing in oneself in a competitive industry. His belief in his quest to distinguish himself as one of the great actors fuels this performance, and energetically invigorates every element of Marty Supreme. “That was probably where I related to Marty the most and that I was most proud that Josh saw in me something I felt other directors hadn’t seen before. It allowed me to be a version of me that is very different than Little Women, is very different from Call Me By Your Name, or Wonka,” says Chalamet.
“I feel this lifestyle and the demands that come with it are too bizarre to do anything but wanna be the best. And Marty Mauser is that role,” he continues, riding a wave of the same frenetic energy that propels the film. “It would be bizarre for me to talk about it like this if we were talking about Little Women or something. If I say, ‘I wanna be best Laurie ever.’ You’d be like, ‘What the fuck?’ And then Christian Bale would snipe me or something. But with a movie like this, it fits the tone.”
Marty’s pursuit of greatness takes audiences on an adrenaline-charged ride. It’s 1952 New York and he wants to be a world champion table tennis superstar. For a kid who works in a shoe store, that’s no easy feat, especially since everyone thinks ping pong is just a silly hobby. But Marty, with a clear goal and a Llewyn Davis like drive to live the dream, just runs headlong towards the championships.
Along the way, Marty’s boyish charm, or rizz if we’re speaking Chalamese, catches the attention of Kay Stone, a former Hollywood starlet turned trophy wife, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The Shakespeare in Love Oscar winner speaks a bit more modestly and cautiously than her co-star when asked about the pursuit of greatness. In a way, there’s a sense of being in character, too, since Paltrow’s measured responses reflect some of the hard knocks that Kay faces along the way—or that any actor encounters over years in Hollywood.
“I had a darker version of Grace Kelly in my head a little bit for this film because she gave up this beautiful, important career also for marriage,” says Paltrow. “I felt that something changed in her eyes after she made that decision. She never went back to Hollywood. And she sacrificed everything. I think she broke a little bit. Kay, my character, makes a similar sort of choice. She sacrifices her artistic freedom and sense of full expression in order to have this idea of safety in marriage.”
Paltrow says she embraced the hardness that life gives Kay, but she finds a spark in their whirlwind affair only to be crushed again. This mindset distinguishes Kay and Marty. She’s settled for a life of being the trophy wife to business tycoon Milton Rockwell (Dragons’ Den’s Kevin O’Leary, in one of the film’s truly brilliant casting strokes), whom Marty sucks up to with hopes he’ll bankroll his wold champion ambitions. Rockwell, like an investor on Dragon’s Den, sizes up Marty’s pitch and decides to buy what he’s selling.
“She knows that he’s a hustler because she’s a hustler,” Paltrow says of Kay’s relationship with Marty. “I think he sees an opportunity to have a star rub off on him to make him feel that he has a bit more ego, and then he sees her as a source of money. I think she’s very aware of that. But she really needs something from him too,” Paltrow says. “I think she needs to feel alive.”
Chalamet agrees that Marty’s in over his head with his ambitions. Throughout the film, Mauser undergoes a dark odyssey like a perpetual fuck-up. Besides sleeping with his benefactor’s wife, his rap sheet includes kidnapping a mobster’s dog, irking the top bananas in the table tennis league, and seemingly inspiring all of Japan to bet on him getting smoked in the finals. (The post-war setting ups the stakes of the table tennis championship as Marty prepares for a showdown with a Japanese competitor.)
If Marty’s hustle often seems downright dizzying, his performance on the tables is doubly so. Marty Supreme features some frenetic ping pong sequences as Marty earns his much-coveted title. “It was balletic,” Chalamet says of the table tennis sequences. “It’s this strange arrhythmic dance.”
The star notes that the matches required precise choreography and sometimes entailed 40 rallies to be memorized. “As far as the ping pong sequences, I worked with Diego Schaaf and his wife, Wei, who were the ping pong coordinators on this and they are the go-to ping pong people in Hollywood,” says Chalamet. (They also did the ping pong for Forrest Gump and Balls of Fury, among other films.) Chalamet says he worked with the coaches for over four years off and on between projects, and three months learning table tennis choreography before the shoot. It’s as intense as it sounds.
While the ups and downs of the competition give Marty some hard knocks, life also forces a reality check for every player in the game. Paltrow likens Marty Supreme to “a slow arc from amorality to morality.” Marty’s redemption comes in recognizing that winning isn’t everything and some things aren’t worth sacrificing for the sake of being on a Wheaties box. But his focus always keeps his eyes on the prize.
“I think that if you have backup plans, then it’s very hard to manifest the primary dream,” observes Paltrow. “You have to have so much belief, almost delusional belief that you can achieve your dream, and that’s how you manifest it into being. Having a plan B in your mind, that hedge energetically undercuts the mission that you’re doing. But I think while you’re holding your dream, there can be no plan B.” It’s good advice for a co-star with a take-no-prisoners attitude towards being number one.
Chalamet has no problem manifesting delusional dreams in pursuit of greatness. “In that way, I’m much more like Marty. I feel my heart is on my sleeve and any attempt to disguise that or be too cool for school is challenging for me,” says Chalamet.
With an attitude so openly set on being the best, it’ll probably crush Chalamet if he loses again. But Marty doesn’t win every game, either.
