Best Actor 2025: Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme

Timothée Chalamet received his third acting Oscar nomination for portraying Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme. 

Marty Supreme follows the endeavors of a ping pong player who wants to be the greatest in the world. 

Timothée Chalamet is one of the few genuine movie stars in the making, in terms of there actually being an innate degree of bankability, as Dune might’ve been already a noted property, Wonka was no guarantee, A Complete Unknown could’ve done far less, but I’d say really the success of this film more than any other given the film was built almost entirely his name, and such a period/character piece without a sent of superhero anywhere near it makes its box-office haul so far most impressive. All the more impressive because it is distinctly a character piece and a continuation of the Safdie style (Now solo Josh) protagonist though holding the similarity of Robert Pattinson’s Connie Nikas, and Adam Sandler’s Howard Ratner, where their traditional likability is more than in question and their favorite habit is to dig to get out of a hole, creating much more so a 70’s style protagonist we follow through the film. Chalamet’s Marty though is distinctly his own beast and its own specific representation of the talent of the actor in question. Where Pattinson’s performance was a proof of talent beyond dispute, Sandler’s was a use of talent often not in use, Marty is a step, or perhaps pedestal, within the already clear ladder of Chalamet as an awards and box-office magnet. In fact Marty in a way can be a representative of so much of Chalamet, though not to the point I think this is in any way someone playing themselves, but in terms of channeling the clear aspect of someone’s personality as part of the fuel that helps to define the character. 

Chalamet comes into the role with absolute commitment but also absolute ease in very much giving a kind of charge to a performance that is so distinct and too often not seen. Where Chalamet is empowered with his immense talent, which I don’t mind saying despite his sometimes polarizing offscreen personality, which crackles within Marty right off the opening frame though will be utilized in so many different ways throughout. Our introduction begins with Marty as a shoes salesman in New York and in a way Chalamet brings a specific slightly reduced charisma, although still remarkable, where you see the sense of his talents as he talks a lady through the right type of shoe to buy with a confidence but also the casual consideration of someone who makes the customer seem at home with their shoes. Although his attention is soon diverted by his married childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A’Zion) entering the shop, where we get the quick switch to the false salesman cordiality to this “returning customer” which is all with the same ease of Chalamet, until we get a bit more honesty through a bit of dishonesty from Marty as he’s only meeting with her in the backroom to have sex. Where the defining feature is lust for the both of them and Chalamet’s delivery of how Rachel should come with him is in the total throws of someone just deeply in that lust without probably not too much thought, given as we lead into the opening credits that is literally the end result of Marty perhaps thinking with the paddle in his pants without a second thought to the consequences. 

We soon follow the next layer of Marty which is as the "businessman" Marty where we see him with his Uncle, who owns the shoe store, wanting Marty to become manager and focus on this career rather than focus on Marty’s real dream of becoming the world's greatest ping pong player. Where Chalamet is great in the moment in essentially bringing this certain exasperation with his uncle over the situation, creating the sense that he’s had this conversation too many times with his Uncle differing between his dreams and what his uncle thinks is a sensible ambition, but even more so what Marty has tried to get away with. As Marty asks for the 700 dollars for his plane ticket to get to the table tennis tournament, it is again with this fake apology in Chalamet’s delivery that he's a genius as though there’s an explanation within it and an excuse to each that his Uncle never quite buys. Contrasting that though is his conversation with his friend Dion (Luke Manley) with Dion’s businessman father, over the potential of orange Marty Supreme balls as a kind of promotion. Chalamet’s wonderful pitch in bringing a certain comedic energy in the oversell of pinpointing how important a new color in ping pong is though with this intensity of passion that it is not hard to buy at a certain level. Where we get kind of the first instance of Marty “buying his own shit” for the lack of a better description, where Chalamet fashions this specific way of speaking in these moments where it delivers them as though they are the personal mantras Marty has memorized in the morning as he predicts he’ll be on the cover of a Wheaties box someday. A repeated tone we get a few times throughout the film to various people where he espouses his yearn for greatness and the conviction. Although Marty will at different places in his life, each relapse to this tone is of a mantra Marty has spent years perfecting. 

While we are still in New York we get a brief sense of his relationship with his mother (Fran Drescher) which a lot of time isn’t spent on however I think it is an example of where one can depend on their actors to quickly sell the relationship and tension therein. Where we see Marty’s mother throughout the film trying to get his attention, going so far as to pretend she’s sick, and Chalamet’s reaction each time speaks not to months of this but years of that. In the immediacy of the exasperation and the fact that there isn’t for a second where he believes his mother. We don’t see hatred exactly but just this instant disappointment with mother every time that he quickly glances over to her. Where we see just how burnt this relationship is in every respect and the history of the two that goes beyond far from what we see. Speaking of burning bridges Marty goes about getting his money by holding his coworker at the shoe shop to give him the money he feels he’s owed. Chalamet is amazing in the scene where we see the start of Marty’s greatest hubris, where his whole manner in the approach is with the directness of someone who feels they can make no mistake. Even going so far as to persuade the man by first saying it’s twisted that he’d be made manager of the store over him or to blame him as an armed thief. Chalamet delivers both with the confidence of someone who knows he will be traveling to fame and fortune in England for the ping pong championship. 

In England we have Marty at his most extreme, something Chalamet wholly owns and is magnificent in just essentially playing to the Icarus note of a man flying way too close to the sun. Something we get immediately with the ego he just is weaponizing in different ways. The first in demanding that the hosting official give him more expensive lodgings with the Marty negotiation tactic of arguing his own importance which Chalamet sells with the most boldface belief in himself, though not as an underdog but as just basically the ultimate dog. Something to be fair to a certain extent we can see when he is playing and we see him dominate his official games and Chalamet’s performance in every game in the film is essential. As these first games it is with determination but also a breezy assurance of someone who absolutely believes he’s unstoppable. A confidence that only expands as we see him interviewed by the local press, where Chalamet’s performance is an incredible bit of almost a conductor of his environment. Where his delivery of his totally false backstory is run out like a 100% pure perfect liar. His fake bit of false sleeping when asked about his past, is an exceptional bit of physical work just illustrating the livewire of energy that is Marty. Along with his totally inappropriate bit about finishing off his next opponent reigning champion Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig), and holocaust survivor, where in that glint in Chalamet’s eyes you see the combination of provocateur and promoter, who wants to play into the heel angle with a sense of fun but also a sense of not quite knowing his limit. 

The lack of limit only goes further as he spots famous, though past her prime, actress Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), where Marty’s hubris essentially only grows as he purposefully calls her to get her attention and to also brag about himself. Chalamet is great in the scene though in finding this perfect blend between charm and wholly being a pest as he talks to her. As he manages to put this wild mix between his intrigue, the playfulness of each question to her, and even the pronouncement of himself as being a celebrity himself, which he is in his mind. Even the way Chalamet speaks into the phone brings the impish quality of Marty alive as someone who believes himself on top of the world. Which to Marty he seemingly is as we see him play at again Kletzki so well that he even takes a moment to do a playful serve round where the two do various trick shots. Chalamet is amazing in the scene because you do see the exhilaration of Marty’s mastery in the moment, but more importantly we do see very much the showmanship of the moment. Chalamet is very entertaining as Marty in this scene in doing every little over the top of bit that manages to be both silly while showing off the considerable talents of Marty in this particular field, which as boon Kay Stone also watches the performance much to her delight. 

Along with Kay, Marty also purposefully also calls for the attention of her husband pen businessman Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), by buying their dinner while Marty himself is dining with Kletzki. A series of contrasts as we get the beautifully humble man that is Kletzki, who you can see is just happy to be alive in many ways against Marty, where Chalamet is beautifully still in full self-absorption mode which is particularly hilarious when he shamelessly claims how he cares so much about pens towards Rockwell, which Rockwell does not buy though does become somewhat intrigued by the apparent success of table tennis to some degree as Kletzki recounts his own tale of being given “lighter” duty in the holocaust due to the game. And I love the quick chemistry between Chalamet and Röhrig, where the latter is just appreciating a new friend, where Chalamet does tip toe around some genuine appreciation for the guy while also still playing up the heel and always downplaying the guy’s heel which Keltzki takes with good humor. As we get to the peak of Marty’s ego though as Kay comes to see him for sex in the night, and Chalamet’s reaction in this scene is an extraordinary depiction of pure uncontrolled ego. As we do get a brief reaction of “can’t believe this happening” but the key is where he looks at himself in the mirror instead of at Kay, and where he conveys Marty fully believing himself to be on top of the world in every respect. 

Which Marty hits a wall in that respect as he meets his most severe competition in Japanese player Endo (Koto Kawaguchi), where the game is completely different now articulated brilliantly in Chalamet’s performance, which was all about floating about the competition here now it is genuine and we see every bit of effort and frustration. Chalamet shows the building up intensity of the man who thought he was the best being hit consistently with the thought that he’s not, and you see specifically in his eyes the ego clashing with the notion that only infuriates him all the more. Till he loses completely and Chalamet unleashes the disbelief fitting the size of Marty’s ego in the moment of a volcanic rage not unlike John McEnroe where none of it is at himself, it is all at everything else for why he lost. The burnout only continues back in New York where Rockwell presents him an opportunity to play a fixed exhibition game with Endo, to which Chalamet brings the stinging anger of the loss, along with the ego bruised however in delivering the words in with a bit more ire as he rejects Rockwell’s offer, with really his demand that he buy him a meal with the venom of someone who truly can’t help himself. Which only continues as his Uncle immediately has him arrested/fake arrested to get Marty to settle down, where Chalamet is most evoking previous Safdie leads in getting that extremely specific anxiety inducing tension of just getting in and out of the argument so naturally in this incredible state of messy frustrations….that results in Marty loses any money he had and running from his uncle/police to find his own way to the world competition. 

We follow them as Marty attempts to find some way of getting his money. His first option teaming up with his fellow tennis player friend Wally (Tyler Okonma) who have such great chemistry that honestly they could’ve made just the film a series of hustles from the two and that would also have been an amazing film. Instead we get one hustle, where Chalamet’s terrific in playing the part of a different type of hectoring person as just the constantly annoyed guy wanting to play table tennis and frustrated by everything. A wholly different kind of frustration and desire even to play, and where physically I love how awkward he positions himself at the table in the setup, as he presents himself as an obnoxious racist towards Wally, where the two build up a crowd to get them to make a big bet to prove this fake version of Marty wrong. The two create the natural juggle of the circumstances and make it wholly believable that the hustle would work. Followed by the sheer joy of the two as they run along Wally’s car without gas, and Chalamet brings such a winning delightful sense of the friendship with Marty and Wally along with just the sheer jubilation of their triumph…which doesn't last too long as they need to make a hasty escape when their marks catch them driving off together. 

While all this is going on, Marty finds Rachel now quite pregnant with his child, and we see him juggling with her too where I think Chalamet balances a sense of the complication within the relationship. As you see him going through his head moments of interacting with her with hesitation to being held down by her advances, yet his passionate charge when defending from her oaf husband (Emory Cohen) does have a sincerity, and even at his most dismissive, Chalamet brings a great nuance of Marty fighting with himself in these moments to what degree he will allow himself to feel towards her. What we see though, as the two attempt to retrieve a potential money avenue from Abel Ferrara, which one should never try to get money from Abel Ferrara, by finding his dog that Marty lost after promising to take the dog to the vet. Although in this endeavor we get a deeper chemistry between Chalamet and A’Zion, where you see in their mutual conning ability, or attempting to con ability, a connective energy where in a way she’s perfect for him. Something that becomes more clear when it is even revealed that she made up a black eye from her husband just to get Marty’s attention. I love Chalamet’s subdued reaction that isn’t rage, rather almost respect for the play as it is 100% something Marty would do. But even with the trick, his feelings towards her are tested when Ferrara threatens her with violence unless they show him where his dog is, which leads to her being wounded in the interaction and takes her to emergency surgery in the hospital. Where Chalamet is great in these moments shows more directness of love towards her then the rest, yet still with just enough hesitation of the ambitious Marty who can’t go all the way in this relationship. 

Marty’s last option for a way to the tournament is between the wife and husband of Kay and Rockwell. The former where we get a bit more sexual encounters and each time, Chalamet showing very much Marty’s acceptance of being the sex objection for her desires while playing up just being the show of it. Which almost works as she offers him a valuable necklace, which sadly quickly must be used to pay off cops who catch them having sex in the park, leading to Chalamet’s absolutely hilarious delivery of shamelessly just asking for another one as though absolutely nothing had happened. Which due to her own personal comeback falling apart, she can’t be reached, leaving only Rockwell, where once before Marty ticked him off more by trying to get a meeting by lying about knowing his dead son, where Chalamet’s performance brings a slight bit of humility, not much, in trying to apologize for his actions, which Rockwell doesn't accept. But on the same night as failing to get the necklace with Kay, Rockwell appears to be the only option for him. Chalamet’s outstanding as basically losing all the ego and just such emotional desperation as Marty throws himself essentially on the mercy of the court of Rockwell. Chalamet’s running from one apology to the next, at Rockwell’s demand, is just such a point in seeing Marty very much of the earth in this moment and not a hint of hubris. Chalamet articulates every bit of humility coming out of Marty, which he shows so effectively as basically a painful experience of a man whose nature is opposed to such an idea. Which sadly for Marty, ends with a literal paddling of his naked behind by Rockwell as a punishment in order for Marty to get a trip to Japan and fees for the show with Endo. 

Where we get a showcase for Chalamet where we get a different heightened version of Marty, from the actually pompous Marty of earlier, as now we get the glimpse of his playing the “pompous American” to the Japanese crowd, emphasizing a purposeful heel attitude in every movement and expression. Wonderfully playing each bit of the oversell and being essentially the “fool” that everyone wants him to be, especially Rockwell who is getting a bit too much joy out of Marty looking the fool as he loses to Endo in a fixed game. We see Marty willingly accept the humiliations, even though due to failing to pay a fee to the organization won’t even be in the actual competition, until there is an extra wrinkle of demanding that Marty also kiss a pig in front of the crowd. Chalamet’s reaction is great as we see the humbled in many ways Marty reflecting to himself and finding just essentially the breaking point. Making one more break that will get him in trouble, but Chalamet importantly conveys a difference in this act as he tries to get the crowd to demand an actual game. Chalamet’s amazing as he manages to balance a sense of some modesty and we see a different more empathetic passion as he pleads for the real game. Which Endo agrees to, and Chalamet’s performance throughout is exceptional. Capturing every dramatic bit largely in his physical work where everything he is doing is filled with determination and the sense in his eyes the ferocity needed to prove himself in this moment, even though it only truly has meaning to him and Endo. Building along with the editing, and music the tension towards the victory, where Chalamet makes you feel every step and makes Marty is most likeable in this moment where Marty is purely playing for the spirit of the game. And though a quick moment, an essential one is after winning, his wish of good luck to Endo in the actual tournament is delivered with absolute sincerity, though combined with the edge of sadness of someone who knows he won’t be there. Speaking of a combination of emotions, the final moment of the film is Marty returning home after Rachel has given birth seemingly accepting his responsibilities as a father. An extraordinary scene for Chalamet as he manages to allow for interpretation while not being vague in the least in the scene of Marty’s reaction to his child. As his reaction is so deeply profound as we see Marty looking as a child, there is joy, happiness, yet his tears speak to an existential sorrow of seeing what his future will be, which is this child not the “greatness” he believed in. It should be clear by this point that I love everything about this performance, which is a live wire of star charisma, packed in such a captivating character,  where he creates such compelling dynamics throughout the film and crafts a potent portrait of the rise and fall of the dream of one man. I never thought Chalamet was untalented, in fact I have been previously impressed, and yet he even surprised me here with just the way he grips the screen and doesn’t let go of it for even a second.