- Timothée Chalamet is starring in Marty Supreme
- The film will release in January 2026, where he plays the ping pong champ
- For the role, Chalamet reportedly trained aggressively for months
Timothée Chalamet is booked and busy. The actor, 29, recently starred in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and is taking on another film based on a real person, Marty Supreme. The sports drama is loosely inspired by the life of 22-time ping pong champion Marty Reisman. In the film, however, Chalamet plays a fictionalized version of a ping pong player named Marty Supreme.
Read More: Marty Supreme: Everything we know so far
Marty Supreme is directed by Josh Safdie, 41, known for his work on Uncut Gems. Starring alongside Chalamet are Gwyneth Paltrow, Fran Drescher, and Abel Ferrara. Photos from the set captured Paltrow, 52, in a passionate lip-lock session with Chalmet, which caused controversy. Paltrow also commented on the lack of an intimacy coordinator during these scenes, which fans did not like.
However, the role of Marty Supreme has been one of Chalamet’s most challenging, and he trained extensively for it. Find out what the Dune star did here to prepare!
What did Timothée Chalamet do to prepare for Marty Supreme?
In an interview with Variety, Marty Supreme’s cinematographer Darius Khondji, 69, said that the actor trained for “months and months”.
Khondji also said he expects the film to do well at the box office and reflected on how shooting was “so hard and crazy”.
Chalamet is known to be dedicated to his work – he trained for five years to play Dylan. His training included learning to sing in his style, play the guitar and the harmonica, and work on his dialect and mannerisms to fit Dylan’s personality.
“He wanted to be like a real [professional] ping pong player when he started shooting,” Khondji told Variety. He warned that in this role, Chalamet would be very different from how audiences saw him before.
Continuing, Khondji said, “The movie is about everything but ping pong.”
Although he did not specify how Chalmet prepared, it is safe to assume the 29-year-old learned how to play ping pong, talk like Reisman, and fit into the movie’s 1950s setting.
Khondji hinted that Chalamet was around “some of the greatest real ping pong champions playing today,” which could suggest he was coached by them.
It shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for Chalmet as he has starred in films set in different decades. Little Women is set in the 19th century, Call Me By Your Name is set in the 1980s Italy, and Hostiles is set in the 1880s. He will pull off the role no problem!
