Timothée Chalamet’s character in Marty Supreme was meant to embody a young kid from the streets of New York.
Director Josh Safdie wanted to bring authenticity to the film, not just visually, but also in the way the characters looked and felt.
“It makes no sense to throw Timothy in there and make him look like this pretty movie star,” says prosthetic makeup designer Mike Fontaine. Fontaine, who was nominated for a Makeup and Hair Stylist Guild Award and an Oscar finalist for Best Makeup, worked closely with Safdie and makeup artist Kayla Panchenko to ensure Chalamet seamlessly integrated into the film’s gritty world.
The story follows Chalamet as Marty, an ambitious young man living on New York’s Lower East Side who is convinced that table tennis is his ticket to success. Set in 1952, Marty is a hustler who works in his family’s shoe store. So they sell more expensive shoes by pretending that the customer’s size is out of stock. On the other hand, he’s always looking for the next get-rich-quick scheme.
“Josh knew what he wanted,” says Fontaine. “He wanted acne scars and keloid scars that looked like he had been in a fight.” Marty’s face is marked by a scar on his cheekbone and an additional scar under his chin, suggesting a rough life.
In one scene, Marty escapes from the police by jumping out of a window and down a fire escape. “When you look at it, you feel like this probably isn’t the first time he’s done something like this,” Fontaine added. “He probably fell down and hit it a few times.”
The problem during production was how far to see. “With Marty Supreme, we had the great advantage of doing extensive screen tests with Darius Khondji. He filmed those tests with Timothy on stage.”
After reviewing the footage with Chalamet and Safdie, Fontaine realized that the makeup was too extreme and decided to resculpt and remake everything. The goal was for the makeup to not be distracting to the audience, but rather to make them feel invisible. “Me, Kyla and[hairstylist]Jimmy Good create Timmy in an hour. In the trailer for Timothy, we were doing hair and makeup all at the same time,” Fontaine explains. “Kyla started with the eyebrows and Jimmy styled the hair.”
Chalamet had a total of five prosthetic legs. “There was a large section covering the cheek to represent the texture of acne-bruised skin; another on the cheekbone to create a deep scar on one side, two smaller sections for the scar under the lip, and a long scar under the chin.”
Condji was shooting close-ups with a long lens, so Chalamet’s face was front and center, requiring close attention to detail. Fontaine also had to “fake a sweat” during Marty’s intense game of table tennis in the film.
Safdie wanted another level of authenticity when it came to distorting Chalamet’s vision. Rather than using prop glasses, Safdie opted for a combination of contact lenses and prescription glasses. Fontaine explains, “We put contact lenses in Timothy’s eyes to blur his vision, and then we put very heavy prescription glasses on top of that to create the illusion that his eyes were really beady and small.”
Safdie previously told Variety: “At the time, we said we were going to put a +10 degree contact lens in your eye, and before that we were going to put a -10 degree contact lens in your eye, so when his glasses came off he wouldn’t be able to see anything.” Safdie recalls getting a call from the actor when Chalamet tried on the combination. “He calls me and says, ‘I’m at +10 right now and I’m feeling pretty dizzy.'”
According to Safdie, Chalamet described the experience as “like being in a fishbowl.” Still, Chalamet was determined. “I’ll do anything you ask me to do,” Safdie recalls the actor telling her.
