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Timothée Chalamet wore contact lenses that blurred his vision and prescription glasses to correct it in Marty Supreme, writer-director Josh Safdie said
Chalamet portrays a young Jewish-American man determined to win a world championship in table tennis in the new movie
Marty Supreme also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler Okonma, Odessa A'zion and more
Timothée Chalamet's quest for authenticity in hisMarty Supremeperformance even made its way into the glasses the actor wore in the movie.
The film's director Josh Safdie recently revealed during a panel conversation that he and Chalamet elected to have the actor wear contact lenses that blurred his vision for the film, necessitating that he actually wear prescription glasses to correct it, according to aVarietyarticle published Sunday, Dec. 28.
"At the time, we said, we were going to put +10 contact lenses in your eyes, and we're gonna put -10 prescription lenses in front of them so that when his glasses fall off, he can't see s---," Safdie, 41, said of Chalamet, who turned 30 on Dec. 27. "He calls me, and he says, 'I've got the +10s in right now, I'm pretty dizzy.' "
Safdie told the audience that Chalamet described wearing the contact lenses as if "he was in a fishbowl," perVariety, but the actor elected to stick with it. "I'll do anything you ask me to do," Safdie recalled Chalamet saying.
InMarty Supreme, Chalamet portrays a young man named Marty Mauser, a pro table tennis player who dreams of winning the world championships in 1952. Much of the story revolves around Marty's efforts to make enough money in New York City to travel to Japan and compete in the tournament there and his complicated relationships with family members, friends and people he meets along the way.
Chalamet has emphasized the degree to which he committed to learning how to play ping pong at a high level. Back in October, he toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat hebegan taking lessons as early as 2018and continued to hone his skills through filming movies likeDuneandThe French Dispatch. Chalamet also maintained that level of commitment while filming sequences that saw him in physical pain, such as when costarKevin O'Leary(ofShark Tankfame) spanks him with a paddle in one pivotal moment.
"That's really Chalamet's ass — he didn't want the stunt double," O'Leary, 71, toldTHR.
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Courtesy of A24
Safdie also said during that recent panel conversation that Chalamet had prosthetic pockmarks, nicks and freckles applied to his face to suggest that his character had "been in fights, and he's from the street."
Marty Supremeis in theaters now. Chalamet is nominated for his leading performance in the movie at the upcoming2026 Critics Choice Awardson Sunday, Jan. 4 and at the2026 Golden Globe Awardson Jan. 11.
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