Oscar Hopes for Marty Supreme
Timothée Chalamet aims for his first Oscar win with his role in Marty Supreme, facing strong contenders like George Clooney, Ethan Hawke, Leonardo DiCaprio, Wagner Moura, and Jesse Plemons. At age 30, he sets a record as the youngest male actor with three Academy Award acting nominations.
Previous nods came for Best Actor as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown and Elio Perlman in Call Me by Your Name.
Film Plot and Inspiration
Marty Supreme, released in 2025, follows Marty Mauser, portrayed by Chalamet. Set in 1950s New York City, the fictional story depicts a young man’s quest for table tennis greatness amid skepticism. Loosely based on ping-pong hustler Marty Reisman, Mauser navigates underground tournaments and shady dealings to elevate the sport.
On-Set Ping-Pong Tradition
Chalamet s his character’s passion as a dedicated table tennis fan. He maintains ping-pong tables on sets for the past six years. “I have the photographic evidence,” he says. “There’s Laurie from ‘Little Women’ Timmy playing ping-pong. And there’s Paul Atreides [‘Dune’] and all that. So I’m going to put all that out and you’ll see!”
Role Transformation
For the part, Chalamet endures a daily 90-minute prosthetics session, featuring facial pockmarks and a unibrow. Makeup designer Kyra Panchenko crafts the look, including special contact lenses for “beadier” eyes. “There was an hour-and-a-half with prosthetics and stuff every day, with the pock marks on the face and the unibrow,” he explains. “He wanted my eyes beadier in the movie so I ended up wearing negative four/negative six contacts. This is true – to f*** up my vision. And then I would put real glasses on top of it to correct my vision.”
The Golden Globe winner embraces makeup chair time for preparation. “It started with the Dylan project, where there’s prosthetics on that and then on this,” he shares. “You know, I wrapped part three of ‘Dune’ a couple of days ago and there’s also a level of prosthetics, and I love it. I cherish that in the morning, getting in the headspace I want and reading the books or watching the films or journaling or whatever it is to really get in the zone. It’s really important.”
Co-Stars Shine
Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Kay Stone, Marty’s romantic interest in Europe, while Odessa A’zion plays Rachel Mizler, his childhood friend entangled in an affair. Chalamet praises them: “They were both excellent, and that goes for the entire cast, but I agree it was two different energies. Gwyneth was heartbreaking in this movie and profound. I thought it made it even more profound that she stepped out of retirement, in a sense, to do it. And then Odessa was a totally different wild kind of energy. She’s the perfect Rachel and you just can’t imagine anybody else doing it.”
He adds, “Gwyneth is so effortlessly talented. Sometimes I work with these actors who have been successful a long time and I feel like I have the moment that a casting director would have had the first time they see them which is to say, ‘Oh wow this person’s really good. They really got something.’ And I felt like that with Gwyneth.”
Recent Controversy
Chalamet stirred debate in February during a talk with Matthew McConaughey about theatrical films versus streaming. He states: “I admire people – and I’ve done it myself – who go on a talk show and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to keep movie theatres alive, we’ve gotta keep this genre alive. And another part of me feels like if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.”
He continues, “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive,’ even though no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there … I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I’m taking shots for no reason.”
Character Parallels and Personal Life
Past critiques label Chalamet arrogant for his “pursuit of greatness,” a trait echoing Marty’s drive. “If anything this felt like the empowerment of that,” he reflects. “It’s challenging to have that worldview for a lot of reasons. I feel like everything I’ve been lucky to play bleeds into my real life and the real life bleeds into the character and vice versa. It’s like a total dream and also really clarifying, putting my soul through a strainer or something and all the bull*** being strained.”
Chalamet dates Kylie Jenner since 2023, defying breakup rumors. They appeared together at the BAFTAs, where he lost Best Actor to Robert Aramayo. He thanked his “partner” in Golden Globes and Critics Choice speeches and hints at marriage. The couple shares a Los Angeles home, but New York, his birthplace, holds his heart. “I wouldn’t be who I am without New York. It’s the most beautiful place in the world,” he says. Filming Marty Supreme there marks his most New York project.
