Marty Supreme true story: How accurate is the ping-pong drama?

Timothée Chalamet has certainly been raising eyebrows in Hollywood with his divisive interviews publicising his new film Marty Supreme.

In one interview that went viral, Chalamet told a reporter that the film marked his best acting role yet, adding that was saying something given that he’s provided “top-of-the-line performances” over the last several years.

While Chalamet’s comments during the press tour prompted quite a bit of discussion among fans on social media, the actor recently told Indiewire that it’s all in keeping with the energy of Marty Supreme.

“This is in the spirit of Marty, and I feel like this is ultimately an original film at a time when original movies aren’t really put out,” Chalamet said.

He continued: “It’s a movie about the pursuit of a dream. I’m leaving it on the field. Whether it’s the merch or the Zoom or the media appearances, I’m trying to get this out in the biggest way possible. In the spirit of Marty Mauser.”

In the movie, which is out now in cinemas, Chalamet’s character is a New York City shoe salesman who is driven by a massive ambition to become the greatest table tennis player in the world, and he soon ends up going to extreme lengths to rise to the top.

But how does the figure we see in the film compare to the real-life champion ping-pong player Marty Reisman, upon whom the movie is based?

Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind Marty Supreme.

Marty Supreme true story: How accurate is the film?

As mentioned above, the film follows a character named Marty Mauser, who is loosely based on the real-life champion ping-pong player Marty Reisman – but it is not telling a one-to-one adaptation of his life or career.

Instead, according to Deadline, Marty Supreme is "a fictionalised original, rather than a biopic". In other words, this is clearly a dramatised account of Reisman's career.

Interestingly, there is a 2014 documentary about the real Reisman’s life titled Fact or Fiction: The Life and Times of a Ping-Pong Hustler, whose director Leo Leigh recently explained in an interview with The Smithsonian that Marty Supreme "has its own engine."

He added that "the broad strokes are there, but it has its own agenda and thing going on" while also explaining that Josh Safdie had contacted him to ask some questions about Leigh's own time with Reisman while he was making his documentary.

Who was the real Marty Supreme?

The real Marty Supreme (or, rather, the real Marty Mauser) was actually called Marty Reisman. Reisman was born in 1930 and died at 82 in 2012. He was a champion table tennis player whose professional career spanned over 50 years.

His career began at the age of just 12, and rumours quickly began to spread about his incredible talent – with comedian Jonathan Katz even once recalling that Reisman once beat him while using the flat end of a chess piece rather than a bat.

Throughout his career, Reisman won five bronze medals at the World Table Tennis Championships – a combination of both singles and doubles medals – while he won a total 22 major table tennis titles including two US Opens and a British Open.

He remained active in the sport long into his life, and was serving as president of Table Tennis Nation at the time of his death.

To put his longevity into perspective: on the film's release date, Timothée Chalamet will be 29 - only half the number of years between Reisman's first and final major table tennis awards, in 1946 and 2002 respectively.

Reisman published a memoir in 1974 titled The Money Player, The Confessions of America's Greatest Table Tennis Player and Hustler. And although it's nearly impossible to track down a copy today, it's possible that this served as an inspiration for Marty Supreme.

Marty Supreme is in cinemas now.

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