Timothée Chalamet Pings His Pong In Marty Supreme

Josh Safdie takes us into the high stakes world of professional ping pong, and I swear to God this is not a bit.

I am fascinated by the fact that when the Safdie brothers each separately decided to make a sports film in the Year of Our Lord 2025, Benny made the limp UFC flick The Smashing Machine, while Josh is offering up a heartfelt, uplifting drama about ping pong starring Timothée Chalamet. I cannot wait to read the chapter on this in some career retrospective down the track.

Marty Supreme Trailer

What’s the plot?

Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

That’s the official synopsis for Marty Supreme, and you will note that it completely omits the key factor that the sport at the centre of this period drama is table tennis. But this is a true story, mon frere, or something close to it, taken from the life of late table tennis legend Marty “the Needle” Reisman, who was known for his “ability, flamboyant style, and flair as a showman”. Marty got turfed out of a competition at the age of 15 when he tried to bet $500 on himself with a guy who turned out to be the head of the United States Table Tennis Association, so it seems there’s plenty of dramatic grist doe the cinematic mill.

Who’s in it?

• Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser.
• Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone.
• Odessa A’zion as Rachel.
• Kevin O’Leary as Milton Rockwell.
• Tyler Okonma as Wally.
• Abel Ferrara as Ezra Mauser, Marty’s father.
• Fran Drescher as Mrs. Mauser, Marty’s mother.

Plus Penn Jillette, Sandra Bernhard, Spenser Granese, Philippe Petit, Luke Manley, John Catsimatidis, Tracy McGrady, Kemba Walker, Isaac Mizrahi, Naomi Fry, George Gervin, and Ted Williams. Fran Drescher and dirty ol’ New York sleazoid legend Abel Ferrara as Timbo’s parents is an absolutely wild bit of casting.

When’s it out?

Marty Supreme hits Australian cinemas on January 22, 2025.

What’s the vibe?

Although there’s a part of me half convinced that this is all some manner of elaborate bit, this looks… pretty good? One thing I love about movies is the way they can take us into worlds we’ve never been and show us things from an angle we’ve never encountered before, so if there’s a great story to be found where the ping meets the pong, I’m all for it.