Marty Supreme

Josh Safdie wrote this with Ronald Bronstein and set it in New York in 1952. Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet, is loosely drawn from the table tennis player Marty Reisman. In 2018 Safdie’s wife Sara Rossein bought him Reisman’s 1974 memoir The Money Player. Safdie pitched the part to Chalamet that year, and the actor began table tennis lessons. The project was only announced in July 2024. It is the first film Safdie has directed alone since The Pleasure of Being Robbed in 2008; the five features in between were made with his brother Benny. Darius Khondji shot most of it on 35 mm with vintage Panavision anamorphic lenses. Safdie wanted Chalamet’s eyes smaller, so he had him wear prescription glasses over contact lenses, which impaired the actor’s sight for a while. Around 140 non-actors appear, the highwire artist Philippe Petit among them. At the 98th Academy Awards it was nominated in 9 categories and won none, and came away empty from 11 nominations at the 79th BAFTAs. Chalamet took best actor at the Critics Choice Awards and in the musical or comedy category at the Golden Globes. A good fit if you want ambition working as both engine and hazard. Not for anyone after calm storytelling: the Guardian critic called it a marathon sprint of gonzo calamities.