Timothée Chalamet, the 28-year-old star of the epic sci-fi “Dune” series, is taking a more down-to-earth role in a new movie based on the life of Marty Reisman, a Jewish table tennis champion.
“Marty Supreme” will feature Chalamet, who is Jewish and whose father is French, in a script written by Benny Safdie (who will also direct) and Ronald Bronstein.
Safdie and Bronstein previously worked together on 2019’s Adam Sandler-starring “Uncut Gems,” co-directed and co-written with Safdie’s older brother, Josh. Benny dropped out of a project to create a sequel to the thriller to focus on “Marty Supreme.” Josh is reportedly directing a Netflix comedy special featuring Sandler.
Reisman, who died in 2012 at age 82, won 22 ping-pong titles from 1946 to 2002. He was the 1958 and 1960 U.S. Men’s singles champion and the 1997 U.S. hardbat champion. He earned five Bronze medals at the World Table Tennis Championships; and set the record for the oldest player to win a national competition of a racket sport at age 67.
He also wrote a book in 1974 titled The Money Player, in which he described his life traveling the world playing high-stakes matches.
Chalamet will appear in the third installment in the “Dune” series, titled “Dune Messiah.” He had previously praised the Safdie brothers in a 2019 Variety essay, calling them successors to fellow New York City directors Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee.