For director Josh Safdie, 'Marty Supreme' and Timothee Chalamet are one and the same

The unlikely story of an American table tennis champion has become an end-of-year cinematic event in the United States, where it's due to be released on Thursday, with Chalamet-headed publicity garnering fevered attention.

Safdie said the 29-year-old Franco-American actor was tailor-made for the title role and wholly committed to the project from the get-go.

From his first meeting with Chalamet, the US filmmaker sensed what he described as "a different kind of energy".

"He couldn't stand still," Safdie recalled in an interview with the press in France earlier this month.

"He had a really intense energy. He had this idea of himself. He was Timmy Supreme," the director said, admiring the actor's absolute confidence in his own talent.

Ahead of the film's release, Chalamet has staged a series of press-grabbing stunts, appearing surrounded by an entourage sporting orange, ping-pong-ball-shaped heads and handing out jackets emblazoned with "Marty Supreme" that have become a coveted fashion statement.

"This is a movie about sacrifice and the pursuit of a dream," the actor said in an appearance on US TV host Jimmy Fallon's show.

"We live in a bleak time, especially for young people, and the film is an attempt at an antidote to that and to continue to dream big."
'More than just an actor'
"Marty Supreme", loosely based on the life of table tennis star Marty Reisman, tells the story of a man driven by the belief that he can achieve fame and fortune through a sport little known in the United States.

"Marty has a purpose. He has a dream... He is in service of this thing," Safdie said.

"It's his goal and it's his passion and it's his job to elevate the sport of ping pong. That's what makes him great" even if, at times, that pursuit leads him down a dead-end path.

"Shooting a sport that's never really been put on film before" presented a challenge, the director said.

Chalamet was "involved very early" in the film, even "before there was a script" six years ago, he added.

"He was a collaborator on the film more than just an actor," said the filmmaker.

Chalamet -- the "Dune" superstar who recently portrayed Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown" -- is both "very funny and physical" as an actor, Safdie said.

"He's a dancer," Safdie said.

The actor trained rigorously in table tennis for the role and the match scenes reach heights of tension unexpected for the sport.

"It involved really intense choreography," said Safdie, admitting he broke into a few cold sweats while preparing for the shoot.

Safdie pored over hours of match footage from the 1940s to the 1970s, meticulously breaking down every point that caught his attention.

Then, he recalled, "they would play the points" in endless takes -- with or without the ball -- repeating choreography timed "down to the microsecond".