‘Marty Supreme’ almost ended with Timothée Chalamet being bitten by vampire
Marty Supreme director Josh Safdie has shocked fans of the ping-pong epic with the revelation that the titular character, played by Timothee Chalamet, was meant to be turned into a vampire by the end of the movie.
The new box-office hit, Marty Supreme, is inspired by the true story of Marty Reisman, a ping-pong prodigy in 1950s New York. Chalamet’s Marty Mauser hustles his way across the city in an attempt to make it to the ping-pong world championships. He is desperate to pursue and obtain greatness.
The film ends on an emotional note, with Chalamet’s character unable to partake in the World Champions in Japan; he flies back to the US, where he meets his newborn son in the final scene of the movie, coming face-to-face with his own legacy.
However, Safdie has now revealed that the movie was not always intended to end this way. Speaking on the A24 Podcast, he told Sean Baker that an early draft of the movie took Mauser through several more decades of his life, whereby he became a successful business owner.
After this, in the final moments, millionaire and pen magnate Milton Rockwell, played by Kevin O’Leary, would “take a bite out of his neck.”
Evidence of this storyline can be seen in the existing script, as Rockwell refers to himself as a vampire when in discussion with Mauser: Rockwell says he was born in 1601 and has “met many Marty Mausers over the years.”
Safdie went on to explain the alternate ending thoroughly, sharing: “He turns that [shoe store] into the most successful shop on Orchard Street. He changes it to Marty Mauser’s Shoes. Franchises, franchises again, leaves New York State, becomes a very rich man. All the metrics of success are there.”
He continued, “His family grows, he leaves the city, has this beautiful house, and it ends with him at a concert for Tears For Fears with his granddaughter. They’re great seats, up front, and he’s watching it.”
Safdie added, “And he’s thinking about ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,’ and youth, and what does it mean, and he has this success, but he’s not doing the thing that he believed he was born on the planet to do.”
And then, the shocking final moment: “You’re on his eyes, we built the prosthetics for Timmy and everything, and Mr. Wonderful shows up behind him and takes a bite out of his neck, and that was the last image. And he hasn’t aged.”
However, Safdie’s bosses at A24 couldn’t get on board with the idea; they went so far as asking whether there had been a mistake in the script.
Watch the official Marty Supreme trailer below.
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