Timothee Chalamet trained for months to play ping pong in Marty Supreme
Hollywood actor Timothee Chalamet trained for months to play ping pong like a professional for his role in new movie 'Marty Supreme'.
Timothee Chalamet trained for months to play ping pong like a professional for his role 'Marty Supreme'.
The Hollywood actor plays a ping pong champion who has an affair with an older woman - played by Gwyneth Paltrow - in 'Marty Supreme' and it's now been revealed the 'Dune' star practised hard so he could perform like a "real" player on camera.
'Marty Supreme' cinematographer Darius Khondji told Variety: "You can do anything, any camera tricks you want, but you need to have a core [to play ping pong] ...
"He wanted to be like a real [professional] ping pong player when he started shooting.
Khondji went on to reveal that Chalamet filmed his role in 'Marty Supreme' alongside some real stars of the sport, adding the actor was surrounded by "some of the greatest real ping pong champions playing today".
He said of the lead actor: "I don’t think people are going to recognize him at all ... [audiences] will not recognize the usual romantic."
Khondji also insisted the film's storyline is not just about ping pong, saying: "The movie is about everything but ping pong".
'Marty Supreme' is directed by Josh Safdie and is rumoured to be loosely inspired by the true story of a professional ping-pong player.
Gwyneth Paltrow recently revealed she has "a lot of sex" with Chalamet in 'Marty Supreme'.
She told Vanity Fair magazine: "I mean, we have a lot of sex in this movie. There’s a lot - a lot."
When asked if she's in a lot of "vulnerable positions" with the 'Dune' star, she replied: "Beyond".
Gwyneth added of 'Marty Supreme': "[I play] this woman who is married to someone who is in the Ping-Pong mafia, as it were ... They [the two characters] meet and she’s had a pretty tough life, and I think he breathes life back into her, but it’s kind of transactional for them both."
She went on to explain it was a new experience using an intimacy coordinator on set for the spicy scenes, adding: "There’s now something called an intimacy coordinator, which I did not know existed ... I was like: ‘Girl, I’m from the era where you get naked, you get in bed, the camera’s on'."
She added of working with Chalamet: "He’s such a thinking man’s sex symbol. He’s just a very polite, properly raised, I was going to say kid. "He’s a man who takes his work really seriously and is a fun partner.
The picture marks Gwyneth's first appearance on the silver screen since 2019's 'Avengers Endgame' - in which she played Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) partner Pepper Potts - after taking a lengthy break to focus on growing her wellness brand Goop.
Gwyneth previously told Harper's Bazaar magazine that her days as a Hollywood leading lady were over. She said: "I will literally never get a taste for acting again.
"When I was acting I really burned myself out ... I really got to the point where even the little things, like sitting in the van going to set, getting your make-up touch-ups, and everything - I really don't know that I can bear it."
