Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past holiday season, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the newest A24 film, “Marty Supreme.” The anxiety-inducing sports drama stars a young man named Marty Mouser (played by Timothée Chalamet,) whose dream is to become the ping pong world champion. In pursuit of his goal, Mouser interacts with a wide variety of characters, from his childhood neighbor and love interest (played by Odessa A’zion,) to a somewhat sadistic businessman with a penchant for pens.
In the months leading up to this film, Chalamet and the film’s marketing team made it abundantly clear that “Marty Supreme” was a must-watch film, pulling stunts such as giving popular A-list celebrities custom “Marty Supreme” jackets, having Chalamet go on YouTuber Druski’s platform to promote the film with an artistic video, putting blimps in the skies of LA and New York, and even becoming the first person to stand on top of the Las Vegas Sphere (which was, of course, in the form of an orange ping pong ball.)
Apart from the outlandish publicity stunts, what stood out about the A24 film’s marketing was the personal investment from the movie’s star. A long-time movie lover, Chalamet has made it clear in the past that he is ambitious, wanting to sit at the same table as icons such as Daniel Day-Lewis and Viola Davis.
“The truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats, ” Chalamet said at the SAG Awards early in 2025. With the work he put into the role, Chalamet has been clear that “Marty Supreme” is, in his words, “the one.”
First hearing about the idea from Josh Safdie (the film’s director) in 2018, Chalamet has since developed a passion for ping pong, training throughout Covid and even on the sets of other movies he worked on. That training paid off, with the scenes of Chalamet playing ping pong being, without a doubt, some of the best in the film.
Aside from just learning to play ping pong, Chalamet also physically restricted himself for the role. As the character of Marty Mouser was visually impaired and needed prescription glasses, Chalamet wore special contact lenses that worsened his vision, so that for the duration of filming, he would be reliant on actual prescription glasses.
A performance characterized by dogged ambition and the single-minded pursuit of a goal, “Marty Supreme” is a cinematic masterpiece and a must-watch for any cinephile, sports aficionado, or anyone who simply wants to be wowed.
