Marty Supreme is a spectacular film. From start to finish it’s an adrenaline rush, with Timothée Chalamet delivering an Oscar-worthy central performance. But you don’t need me to rave about the film itself – that’s already happening everywhere. What’s far more interesting is how the chaos around it unfolded, and what that chaos might mean for the future of cinema.
Let’s rewind.
It’s Sunday, February 23rd, 2025. Timothée Chalamet steps on stage at the SAG Awards to accept a Best Actor award for A Complete Unknown. His speech was confident, gracious and instantly lit up the internet. Some cynics called it aura farming, but for many – myself included – it felt like a young actor openly chasing greatness without irony. As a young film fan watching, it was genuinely motivating.
Fast forward a few weeks to the Oscars. When Adrien Brody won and began his speech, the reaction online was immediate. Many felt the award should have gone to Timothée. The backlash was loud, and from that moment a narrative formed: the campaign for Chalamet to win an Oscar had unofficially begun.
October 6th, 2025. New York Film Festival. After endless speculation, Josh Safdie walked onto the stage and announced a surprise screening of Marty Supreme. The crowd erupted. After the credits rolled, Safdie revealed he had finished the final edit just hours earlier. As audiences spilled out into the night, reactions flooded the internet, calling it one of the best films of the year and insisting Chalamet’s name should already be on the Oscar shortlist.
Then the real fun started.
On October 7th, Timothée dropped a bizarre teaser video wearing a giant orange ping-pong ball on his head. It was strange, funny and impossible to ignore. Overnight, people were intrigued.
At first, the campaign followed the usual path: photoshoots with Aidan Zamiri (director & photographer), shots with Annie Leibovitz for Vogue, the official trailer and posters – the standard film studio promotion. Then it veered completely off course.
Timothée posted an 18-minute Zoom call with himself and the A24 marketing team, where he pitched increasingly unhinged promotional ideas in a tone that felt ripped straight from The Office. Lines like “SCHWAP”,“Corroded Orange” and “An Orange Blimp” became instant memes. It was absurd, hilarious and, crucially, it felt real and intentional. In interviews he explained that…
“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.”
And then the Marty Supreme jacket started to appear.
What followed was unlike anything I’ve ever seen for a film. Celebrities including Frank Ocean, Tom Brady, Bill Nye, Michael Phelps, Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Misty Copeland were photographed wearing it. The jacket quickly transcended film merch and became a fashion phenomenon. Pop-up shops sprang up in New York, Brazil, LA and London, with lines snaking around blocks — hours of waiting, people camping overnight, and resale wars that saw jackets go for hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
I experienced this firsthand in London. I queued from 6:45am with film fans and resellers alike. Myself and other film fans bonded, laughed and witnessed resellers climbing barriers and arguing with security. When I finally reached the front, the jacket sold out right in front of me. I walked away with other merch and a realisation: I had become deeply invested in a jacket for a film I hadn’t even seen yet.
For someone usually sceptical of overconsumption, I found myself fully swept up. And that’s the point. Marty Supreme isn’t just a film – it’s a moment.
What’s often overlooked is that this wasn’t some studio-mandated gimmick. The merch is officially a collaboration between A24 and Nahmias, but the concept, funding and creative drive came largely from Timothée himself. He had previously worked with Nahmias on A Complete Unknown merch, and from that relationship the entire Marty Supreme campaign was built. This wasn’t A24 chasing hype. This was an actor creating it for a movie he believed in.
Naturally, there’s been backlash. Some critics have called the campaign overconfident or too merch driven. But Chalamet has been clear about his intention: to make Marty Supreme succeed creatively and financially in a climate where original films struggle. Chalamet said at a recent Q&A…
“For me, that sort of confidence can ebb and flow, and sometimes maybe I get carried away… but in promoting the movie and how much I believe in this movie and how much film is suffering right now, I don’t want to leave anything on the field.”
This matters even more when you look at A24’s position. Once defined by low-budget, director-driven indies, the studio is now transitioning towards bigger-budget projects like Warfare and The Smashing Machine. Neither became box-office hits, and A24 is evolving – not without risk. In that context, Marty Supreme feels like a crucial test case: can this indie-rooted studio generate significant revenue and really push the biggest studios?
In 2025, the most successful standalone films – Sinners, One Battle After Another and Weapons – all understood one thing: events beat algorithms. Whether through innovative film format marketing, mystery campaigns or viral moments, they gave audiences a reason to show up. Marty Supreme follows that logic but pushes it further.
The early results speak for themselves. In the U.S. Marty Supreme achieved the best per-screen average of 2025, an all-time record for A24. This is the highest PSA since La La Land in 2016. That’s massive. Not just for the film, but for what it proves: Timothée Chalamet hasn’t just marketed a movie, he’s cracked something fundamental about how film promotion must cut through the noise to succeed.
As a film lover and a Timothée fan, I’ve loved every second of this rollout. He’s reshaped what modern movie marketing can look like, and while others will try to replicate it, few will match the sheer level of chaos, confidence and cultural impact. We’ve officially seen Susan Boyle in a Marty Supreme jacket – that’s the level we’re at.
Marty Supreme opened in limited UK cinemas on December 26th, with a wider release from New Year’s Day. As box office and audience reactions unfold, I’ll be watching closely and I’ll be back to answer the bigger question: has Timothée Chalamet proven that true movie stars still exist in the age of streaming, YouTube and influencers?
SCHWAP.
