Timothée Chalamet is set to star in Josh Safdie’s first (non-Adam Sandler comedy special) solo film, Marty Supreme, rumored to be a fictionalized biopic of table tennis champion Marty Reisman. Of the ball-lobbing sports, ping-pong is a distant third in the zeitgeist behind tennis and pickleball. Tennis still has the sexy edge with Challengers and people pretending to be in Challengers at the U.S. Open. Meanwhile, Home Owners Associations, Target, and Stephen Colbert continue to manufacture consent for pickleball. Ping-pong hasn’t had a moment in the culture since Balls of Fury, if you can even call that a moment. Below, everything we know about Marty Supreme, including which Loiter Squad alum will be making their feature film debut. Hint: it’s not Jasper Dolphin.
What is Marty Supreme about?
There are no confirmed deets on the plot of Marty Supreme, but it is rumored to be about Ping-Pong impressario Marty Reisman. Reisman won five bronze medals at the World Table Tennis Championships, an event that is real and continues to exist. He became an ambassador of Ping-Pong to the non-Ponging world, even doing a comedy table tennis act while opening for the Harlem Globetrotters. Reisman was winning table tennis titles up to 2002, when he was 72, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we get to see Chalamet in serious old age makeup/reverse-Irishman CGI.
E! News had pics of Chalamet on set looking “unrecognizable,†but folks on Twitter recognized him as Walt Disney, Leon Trotsky, and Arthur’s teacher Mr. Ratburn.
Who is getting their Ping-Pong on?
Besides Timmy, Marty Supreme will also star Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyler the Creator. It will be Tyler’s film debut, and a return to film for Paltrow after a five-year pause. She’s still been busy, though, with all the ski trials and uncouth houseguests. And, of course, The Politician. Never discount The Politician.
Fran Drescher has been cast as Reisman’s mother, according to Variety. She’ll even have a friend played by Sandra Bernhard, reports Deadline. Still no word on what Paltrow and Tyler will be doing. Will they have tiny mustaches like Chalamet? We’ll find out when the movie comes out.