A scene in the hit movie Marty Supreme in which Timothée Chalamet is spanked took hours to film and more than 40 takes to get right, his co-star has claimed.
Chalamet plays Marty Mauser in the film, a young New Yorker in the 1950s who is convinced he is destined for greatness as a table tennis champion. His shrewd ambition puts him in contact with a variety of characters, among them Gwyneth Paltrow’s faded movie star and her wealthy husband, played by the real-life entrepreneur and businessman Kevin O’Leary.
In a standout scene, O’Leary’s character demands submission from Marty, and orders him to pull down his trousers to be spanked.
In a new interview, O’Leary has recalled the filming of the scene, which was performed entirely by Chalamet, who resisted the offer of a body double.
“When it came time to whack him, there was a stunt ass,” O’Leary told Variety. “There was a double. [Chalamet] wouldn’t do it. He said he’ll do it himself. He didn’t want some other ass immortalised.”
He added that a real paddle was used in the scene after a fake paddle broke almost immediately, and that shooting of the scene “went on for hours”. He further estimated that director Josh Safdie shot 40 different takes.
“Josh was saying, ‘You’ve got to wind up harder,’” O’Leary said. “I was really whacking him.”
Marty Supreme, which The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey described as being “fuelled by powder keg tension”, has been a hit in the US, grossing $27m over the four-day Christmas weekend amid strong reviews.
Chalamet, whose eccentric press tour for the film has included rap videos and viral stunts, has said that Marty Supreme is the movie he’s been “most proud of” in his career so far.
The Dune and Little Women actor, 30, is widely expected to receive an Oscar nomination for the movie.
