Is Timothée Chalamet the Last True Movie Star?

Do movie stars even exist anymore? Amidst the ever-changing landscape of the film industry, where headlines as concerning as Netflix buying Warner Bros. feel like regular occurrences, things as ordinary as the classical movie star have been buried. Dwayne Johnson almost had movie star status. A string of fumbles, from superhero movies to A24 biopics, suggested that his name wasn’t enough to guarantee box office success. Some felt Ryan Reynolds could be one. The problem: His acting personality isn’t discernible from his role as Deadpool (his role that makes the most money, by far).

Marty Supreme
★★★1/2 (3.5/5 stars)
Directed by: Josh Safdie
Written by: Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Tyler Okonma, Fran Drescher, Kevin O’Leary, Koto Kawaguchi
Running time: 150 mins

Instead, Timothée Chalamet might be one of the last movie stars we have left. The 29-year-old American-French actor stays far away from most mega-blockbusters (Denis Villeneuve’s Dune franchise being a notable exception). He gained prominence starring in more independent works, starting in 2017 for his role in Luca Guadagnino’s queer romance Call Me By Your Name. Since then, he’s ticked off pretty much every box in the movie star checklist: The biopic (Bob Dylan-centered A Complete Unknown), the heartthrob (Little Women), and the protagonist with a heart of gold (Wonka), to name a few.

And yet, everyone (at least, all millennials and Gen Z folk) seems to know who he is. His cultural footprint is immense in so many different spheres; it’s only been within the past year or so that his name has started to feel like a household one. In October 2024, a Chalamet lookalike contest in New York spawned a crowd of thousands; Chalamet even showed up at the event himself (after the cops did, of course). Two months later, a clip of Chalamet on ESPN went viral, where he revealed a dizzying corpus of college football knowledge. Even his SAG Awards speech from earlier this year made headlines, and recently, the Wall Street Journal profiled the person running Chalamet’s biggest (and most chaotic) fan page, “Club Chalamet.”

Historically, omnipresence like this would indicate movie star status. The theory goes that, because Chalamet’s name is echoed far and wide, people would naturally be interested in watching the films he’s promoting. He might already be a true movie star. Dune isn’t your typical blockbuster, but it’s become a global phenomenon (the series’ second installment made $715 million worldwide). Even Wonka is a bit of a reach; did anyone ask for a film that traces the origins of the fictional Willy Wonka? Apparently so, given that film’s $635 million box office haul. At the moment, though, it’s unclear if these massive successes can be attributed to him. Both films are based on pre-existing intellectual property and boasted stellar supporting casts.

That’s precisely what makes Chalamet’s film, Marty Supreme, so important. The Josh Safdie film, following a ping pong player seeking national glory, is an unconventional blockbuster. Ping pong films are rare, especially ones with a $60-90 million budget. A24, the film’s distributor, has slated it for wide release on Christmas Day. This R-rated, 150-minute unconventional sports drama is a swing in itself, and it’s the exact type of film that needs a lot (a lot) of attention to succeed. So far, Marty Supreme’s marketing strategy has sprung almost exclusively from the chaotic, boyish charm of its principal star.

For an exclusive segment of the chronically online, it’s felt like Marty Supreme has been everywhere lately. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival in early October as the festival’s “Secret Screening” to rapturous acclaim, with the usual awards pundits claiming it was one of the best (if not the best) films of the year. A couple of days later, Chalamet hosted a screening of the film’s first 30 minutes for fans at a Times Square movie theater. Given that it was first-come first-serve, the scene was chaotic. These two moments were the tip of the iceberg; the marketing stunts that have happened since just reinforce their relative normalcy.

The Chalamet madness has only increased in intensity. Three weeks ago, A24 posted a video depicting a fake marketing meeting for Marty Supreme on their YouTube channel. In it, Chalamet’s diction, commentary and reactions are almost engineered for virality. The film’s worldwide press tour feels like more of a Chalamet showcase than standard film promotion. To be fair, when the actor is walking into a talk show appearance dancing to Soulja Boy’s “Crank That,” it’s hard to focus on anything else. Perhaps the pinnacle of this entire campaign: the Marty Supreme windbreaker jacket, which has become one of the season’s hottest fashion items (currently selling on consignment platform StockX for almost 2,000 dollars). Whether he’s in São Paulo, New York, or London, Chalamet posts cryptic advertisements for pop-up stores where fans can purchase the jacket; naturally, they sell out almost instantly.

This omnipresence further suggests that Chalamet is one of the world’s leading cultural icons, someone who can successfully appeal to every audience he wants to. The people who’ve cared about his career since Call Me By Your Name continue to care about it, since he continues to star in thought-provoking projects (and, indeed, be a generational acting talent within them). It seems those who watch films more casually, or don’t care about film at all, have found something to love, too.

The test of whether his movie stardom translates to box office success remains to be seen, mainly because it’s unclear how well-known Marty Supreme is. As someone who goes to the cinema often, I’ve barely seen the film’s trailer ahead of any screenings. Teasers for the film aren’t popping up on social media; the only Marty Supreme-related videos I’ve seen on platforms are coverage of Chalamet’s latest stunts. Before I saw the film, pretty much all I knew about it was that it was about ping pong and that it was one of the year’s most acclaimed films.

My perception of Marty Supreme didn’t change much after seeing the film, though I did enjoy it quite a bit. The script, co-written by Safdie and continued collaborator Ronald Bronstein, is razor-sharp, exploring one man’s quest for greatness to an unsettling yet effective degree. Unsurprisingly, Chalamet is great in it, animating the film’s frenetic, chaotic and selfish main character with ease and believability. But it’s a difficult film to watch. Characters are always in situations that make you want to cover your eyes.

Like the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems, it’s extremely anxiety-inducing; you’re constantly watching characters make baffling decisions you know won’t end well. The sports element — and the relatively unique opportunity of seeing ping pong played on-screen — does make it more approachable than that film. But, watching the film with Chalamet’s press tour stunts in mind, I emerged even more curious about how the actor’s athlete-like persona off-screen could help make this a real hit.

What success for Marty Supreme looks like is complicated. It’s hard to think of an apt comparison because films like these don’t usually get positioned to open wide on Christmas Day. Will the film’s unique premise be enough to set it over the bar? Can it position itself as a counter-programming option to James Cameron’s behemoth Avatar: Fire and Ash? Will Chalamet’s one-of-a-kind press tour position the film with unknown audiences? It’s probably too soon to tell; movies like this are measured in their staying power, rather than their opening. The magic comes from people talking about it to one another. Right now, people are talking. It’s still unclear if they’re talking about the actor or the movie he’s in. The acid test is whether they pay to see the film.