Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Marty Supreme, currently in theaters.
Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” is enlivened by Timothée Chalamet’s exhilarating performance as Marty Moser, a cocky young table tennis champion. Safdie and his crew have faithfully recreated the world of table tennis players in the 1950s in New York, Tokyo and elsewhere, and populated the environment with a memorable supporting cast, from movie star Kay Stone played by Gwyneth Paltrow to her ruthless businessman husband Kevin O’Leary, played by Mr. Wonderful himself.
The details of the drawing room and the matches are so carefully depicted that it’s no wonder Safdie is so familiar with that world. In fact, his 2008 film The Pleasure of Being Robbed features a scene set in a Chinatown ping pong parlor.
“People who were great at table tennis were often people who didn’t fit in anywhere else,” Safdie said in the film’s press materials. “It wasn’t respected, so it naturally attracted weirdos, purists and obsessives.”
In addition to conducting extensive historical research, the staff consulted experts, including Steve Grant, publisher of Table Tennis History magazine, who spoke to Variety about the film’s inspiration.
Was Marty Moser based on a real person?
Chalamet’s character, Marty Moser, is based on real-life 1950s table tennis champion Marty Reisman, who passed away in 2012. Sports Illustrated called him “the game’s most famous hustler.” Although the film is only loosely inspired by his story, Grant explains that the character definitely shares similarities with Reisman.
“He was very good at promoting himself. That was his biggest skill. Of course he was a very good player,” Grant says. But like Marty Moser, who plays the truth pretty loosely, Reisman likely exaggerated his story, Grant said. Grant describes Riesman’s book, The Money Player, as “a great book about his career in the ’50s.” “But don’t take every word of it as a word of truth. He liked to exaggerate things.”
Safdie came up with the idea for a story based on Riesman when he found an old copy of “The Money Player.” “When I read that this sport was filling stadiums in the UK and across Europe, I realized that it was entirely reasonable for a child in 1952 to actually believe that he could use this sport to achieve a life of fame and glory,” Safdie said in a press statement.
How many of Marty Supreme’s stunts were real?
Although many of Marty Moser’s antics display frivolity, the real Reisman, nicknamed “Needle” for his diminutive frame and quick swing, was known for his showmanship and hustle. He could split a cigarette in half with a ping-pong ball over the net, and if the stakes were high enough he would play blindfolded or seated. As depicted in the film, he and his partner toured the world with the Harlem Globetrotters with a comedy ping pong routine that involved hitting balls with frying pans and sneakers.
Variety Announces “The Money Player” Option
According to an extensive Sports Illustrated profile, the real Reisman pulled off enough wild adventures to fill another movie. He traveled the world, smuggling goods ranging from nylon stockings to high-end crystal, and challenging heads of state to high-stakes competitions. As depicted in the film, he actually flew on military transport planes and briefly worked in a shoe store. Riesman told the magazine that his book had been sold as a movie and that he had offered Robert De Niro the role. However, according to a 1974 Variety article, the project never got off the ground, although it was optioned after publication.
Did Riesman really lose to a Japanese player at the World Championship?
Riesman traveled to India instead of Japan, as in the movie, to face Koji Sato. As depicted in the movie, he was defeated by Sato, who was using a new type of paddle coated with sponge rubber. However, he lost not in the final, but in the 64th round. “The truth is, he needed to win five more games to win the title in 1952, but he wasn’t the favorite,” Grant explains.
Were there other Jewish table tennis champions?
“Dick Miles, a fellow Jewish New Yorker, won a lot of championships in the 1940s and ’50s, long before Riesman won anything,” Grant explains. In fact, table tennis in the 1920s and 1930s was dominated by European Jews, especially Hungarians. In the 1950s, Asian athletes, especially Japanese athletes, began to make a name for themselves in the sport.
Are there any other characters based on real people?
Although many of the characters in this film feel very real, most are fictional, with the exception of Koto Endo, played by real-life champion Koto Kawaguchi and modeled after Riesman’s rival Sato. Basketball star George “Iceman” Garvin also appears, playing a character modeled after Harwald Lawrence, who ran the first black-owned table tennis store in Times Square.
Playwright David Mamet has a cameo in the film and has a historical connection to table tennis. Mamet himself was a table tennis hustler during his college days, frequenting Riesman’s table tennis gym on the Upper West Side, along with other celebrities such as Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick.
