Timothee Chalamet's New Ping Pong Movie

During this week's American Film Market in Las Vegas, one of the few high-profile films available is A24's Timothée Chalamet film, Mary Supreme, which is about a 1950s ping-pong star. It's also turning out to be the priciest. Buyers have been informing us over the last week that the picture, which is now in production in New York, has an eye-opening budget of $90 million. However, we've heard it's overstated and that the actual total of $70 million is more realistic. Along with Dwayne Johnson's The Smashing Machine, which is currently in post-production and is another "sports biopic" that doesn't immediately scream big-budget, the project is now the most expensive new package available for purchase at this year's AFM and the joint most expensive production to date for A24. Josh and Benny Safdie are the directors of both films: Josh's Marty Supreme and Benny's Smashing Machine. They have previously collaborated on A24's Good Time and Uncut Gems. Safdie and Ronald Bronstein's initial screenplay, which is set in the ping-pong culture of the 1950s, was partially based on Marty Reisman's life. Despite his reputation as an outlier in the sport, Reisman won more than 20 national and international trophies in addition to two U.S. Men's Singles Championships in 1958 and 1960. He rose to fame by perfecting the hardbat technique, a classic table tennis style that prioritizes spin and control above speed and force by using a racket without a sponge layer. He became known as one of the final greats of table tennis in that era due to his skill at the game. It’s also an all-star cast with arguably the biggest movie star of his generation in Timothée Chalamet alongside Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow in her film return after a five year hiatus, the debut of artist/rapper Tyler The Creator, and other stars including Fran Drescher, Penn Jillette, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary (a.k.a. Mr. Wonderful), Abel Ferrara, Sandra Bernhard, and more.