MOVIE NEWS – Timothée Chalamet’s next project has been announced, and he is teaming up with Josh Safdie for an unexpected film: a fictional sports movie inspired by real events. Fresh off his box office successes with Wonka and Dune: Part Two, Chalamet is solidifying his status as a major movie star. While fans expect his return in Dune: Messiah, his next film will arrive sooner than anticipated, featuring him in a collaboration with Josh Safdie, one half of the Safdie Brothers, in a film about table tennis.

According to Variety, Chalamet will star in Marty Supreme, directed by Josh Safdie and produced by A24. The film will be fictional but heavily inspired by the life of professional ping pong player Marty Reisman, who transformed from a hustler to a world champion, winning 22 major ping pong titles from 1946 to 2002 before passing away in 2012. The script will be written by Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, who previously collaborated on the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems, with producers Eli Bush and Anthony Katagas, alongside Josh Safdie. No release date has been set, but A24 confirmed the project with a teaser poster on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Safdie Brothers’ Separate Ventures

Marty Supreme marks the first film Josh Safdie will direct solo since 2008’s The Pleasure of Being Robbed. It is also his first film since 2019’s Uncut Gems, co-directed with his brother Benny Safdie. In January 2024, the duo announced they would split creatively to work on individual projects. Initially, they were set to direct a film with their Uncut Gems star Adam Sandler, focusing on sports memorabilia and baseball, but this project has since been postponed.

Interestingly, both brothers are now working on sports-related films. While Josh Safdie is directing the ping-pong-centered Marty Supreme, Benny Safdie is directing The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson in a biopic about former wrestler and mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. A24 will distribute both Marty Supreme and The Smashing Machine.

Chalamet is also set to star in A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, where he will portray Bob Dylan. The movie will center around the 1965 controversy when Dylan switched to electric guitar, having been known as a famous acoustic guitarist. While Marty Supreme does not yet have a release date, the combination of one of the biggest actors and one of the most acclaimed directors promises significant anticipation among audiences.

Source: MovieWeb