Timothée Chalamet's Oscar Buzz: Marty Supreme Premiere Reactions

Will 2026 be the year that Timothée Chalamet finally wins an Oscar? The two-time nominee’s new project, the comedy sports movie loosely based on real events Marty Supreme, is generating Oscars buzz following its world premiere at the New York Film Festival last night (October 6). Marty Supreme will be released theatrically by A24 on December 25.

Directed by Josh Safdie and also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, and Kevin O’Leary, Marty Supreme follows fictional American table tennis player Marty Mauser in his pursuit of greatness. The first reactions to Marty Supreme have been largely positive, focusing on what Chalamet’s performance will mean heading into awards season.

ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley called Marty Supereme “the best film of the year,“ having “All the signature Safdie manic energy perfectly infused with the GENERATIONAL CHARISMA of the prince who is promised.” Check out his post below:

Meanwhile, Ramin Setoodeh, Variety co-editor-in-chief, definitively said that this is “Timothée Chalamet’s best performance yet“:

For some, Safdie’s tone didn’t entirely work: @jasonosia reviewed Marty Supreme: “Pure blank-check Safdie. Sweaty, fast, sprawling, funny, tonally deranged and exasperating! […] Chalamet is tremendous and he’s at his most overconfidently unhinged. And it’s fun and unassumingly wise, but the second half leans so hard into the mania it can be exhausting for better or worse.” Check out this post below:

Marty Supreme does appear to have a very crazed atmosphere, but most critics are able to wrap their heads around it. David Crow said that it “is an absolute blast of adrenaline and the follow-up to Uncut Gems we’ve been craving“:

Some viewers are also taking to social media to highlight the supporting performances. For instance, @realityysimp believes that Odessa A’zion should be seen as an Oscar contender for Marty Supreme:

Notably, senior The Hollywood Reporter writer David Canfield agreed on this front, mentioning “a tremendous Odessa A’Zion leading a superb supporting cast.” Canfield again emphasizes what this turn could mean for Chalamet, saying it is “career-best performance—he was born to play this guy,” while praising the “Major, exhilarating filmmaking“:

What These Reactions Mean For Marty Supreme & Timothée Chalamet

This wave of reactions affirms some early predictions for the 2026 Best Lead Actor race. Meanwhile, the movie itself is emerging as a hit for the end of 2025. Chalamet is still a fan-favorite, and such a fun and risky movie with the Dune star giving a wild performance will bring fans to movie theaters. Marty Supreme also stands out among its contemporaries for being a fictionalized sports biopic.

In particular, Marty Supreme is likely to be directly compared to the commercial flop of The Smashing Machine, directed by Benny Safdie and starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Where this more serious biopic failed at being a modern classic example of its genre, Marty Supreme can succeed in taking bold swings.

The comparison to Uncut Gems, on the other hand, suggests that Marty Supreme could be a real crowd-pleaser. The 2019 crime thriller earned a somewhat niche audience, though much critical praise, and should Marty Supreme truly recapture this movie’s intensity and mania, it could become a similar cult classic.

Marty Supreme is also sharing its Christmas Day release with The Testament of Ann Lee, starring Amanda Seyfried, another picture that has been reviewed as a striking and bizarre take on genre conventions. Chalamet’s latest big screen appearance is off to a strong start, and we are all now awaiting to see how far he will go.