Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet isn’t backing down. The actor has defended his behavior during the Marty Supreme press tour.
The 29-year-old has been using interviews to discuss his performance as table tennis player Marty Mauser in the upcoming movie. He emphasized that his comments are meant to channel the “spirit” of his alter ego.
Timothée told IndieWire, “This is 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. It’s a movie about the pursuit of a dream.”
He added, “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.”
However, the actor faced criticism for an interview where he suggested that Marty Supreme is his best acting role yet, after delivering “top-of-the-line performances” for the last “seven, eight” years.
The ‘Dune’ star stated, “I don’t want people to take it for granted. I don’t want to take it for granted. This is really some top-level s***.”
Timothée also made ambiguous comments on Good Morning America, which some interpreted as a prediction that he will win an Oscar next year for his role in the movie.
He said, “I want the movie to succeed. I want everything to win. The real truth is that Marty Supreme, I feel confident to the degree that by next summer. I’m confident I know what it’s gonna be by next summer.”
Recently, the actor revealed that he spent seven years mastering table tennis before production began on the film.
He shared with the BBC, “I got approached with this project in 2018, so that basically gave me six, seven years to prepare on and off. In all my downtime, I would train as much as possible.”
The ‘Wonka’ star even practiced table tennis while filming other movies. He recounted, “Certainly, by the time ‘The French Dispatch’ was coming out (in 2021), I have a video, at risk of being unrelatable, I was in a beautiful Airbnb on a cliffside for the Cannes Film Festival. And I had a table with me. So I have a video of training with friends. It’s like a gorgeous sunset.”