For director Josh Safdie, Timothée Chalamet is the perfect embodiment of Marty Supreme

Invested in a crazy and unprecedented promotional campaign, Timothée Chalamet is the perfect incarnation of “Marty Supreme”, this ping-pong player from the 1950s devoured by his dreams of grandeur, says Josh Safdie, director of the eponymous film.

How can we make a film based on the story of table tennis the end-of-year cinema event in the United States? By hiring the 29-year-old actor, cut out for the title role according to Josh Safdie, and whose absolute commitment to the project arouses as much fascination as annoyance.

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From his first meeting with Timothée Chalamet, the American filmmaker perceived “a different energy”. “He couldn’t stay still”he recalls during an interview with the press. “He was really intense”. “He had this idea of ​​himself, he was Timmy Supreme »explains the director, admiring the actor’s absolute confidence in his talent and his fusion with the character. Before the film’s release, scheduled for Thursday in the United States and February 18 in France, Timothée Chalamet held numerous happenings surrounded by mysterious characters with heads shaped like orange ping-pong balls.

The actor, who is also a producer of the film, endorsed for Marty Supreme a role as promoter and influencer like never before seen in Hollywood, assuming uninhibited ambition in his quest for the Oscar. Even if it means blurring the lines between reality and the limitless quest of his character, in a well-established communication operation. “It’s a film about sacrifice and chasing a dream. It’s something I identify with deeply. We live in dark times, especially for young people, and this film is an attempt to provide an antidote and a call to dream big.”he said with aplomb on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

“More than an actor”

Marty Supremeloosely inspired by the life of Marty Reisman, an American table tennis champion of the 1950s, tells the story of the ambition of a man convinced of being able to achieve glory and wealth thanks to this sport, little known in the United States. “Marty has a goal, he has a dream (…) he is in the service of this thing, to make ping-pong a major sport, that’s what makes him great”explains Josh Safdie. Even if it means sometimes getting lost in a dead end.

“Filming a sport that has never really been brought to the screen” represented a major challenge, confides the director. Timothée Chalamet “got involved very early” in the film, he rewinds, “before the script even existed” six years ago. “He helped develop the project, he helped us in our meetings with the studios”adds the director, who regularly consulted him throughout the writing of the film. “He was a collaborator, much more than a simple actor”supports the filmmaker who until now made his films with his brother Benny, who also left to pursue a solo career, having directed The Smashing Machinereleased in October, about an MMA star.

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Choreographed matches

Timothée Chalamet, superstar of Dune and recently interpreter of Bob Dylan in A complete strangeris an actor “very funny and very physical at the same time”, “he’s a dancer”emphasizes Josh Safdie. The actor seriously trained in ping-pong for the role and the match scenes reach heights of tension and intensity unexpected for such a sport. “It involved a lot of choreography”explains the director, who admits to having had a few cold sweats while preparing for filming. Josh Safdie swallowed hours of video of matches from the 1940s to 1970s, dissecting each point that interested him. Then, he remembers, “we were playing these points” during endless takes, with or without the ball, repeating a choreography that was being played “to the microsecond”.