January 2, 2026, 8:22 pm | Read time: 6 minutes
Fans and critics have celebrated Timothée Chalamet in recent years for numerous roles and films where he showcased different facets of his talent. Whether in “Willy Wonka,” “Dune,” or “A Complete Unknown,” the actor always gave his all. What hardly anyone knew: Timothée Chalamet was secretly training for a completely different role during the six years he was filming these successful movies: as a table tennis pro in “Marty Supreme.”
Boxing, wrestling, karate—Hollywood loves athletic hero stories. Actors who take on the roles of athletes must physically prepare for the demands. This often means losing or gaining weight, building muscles, and learning combat techniques and choreography. Now, Timothée Chalamet joins the ranks of Hollywood stars who have taken on this challenge. In “Marty Supreme,” he entered the world of professional table tennis and had to learn to convincingly portray a pro player. He succeeded so well that he was able to film all the table tennis scenes himself, without the help of a stunt double. Timothée Chalamet’s secret to success? He started training years before it was even confirmed that the film would be made.
2018–Timothée Chalamet’s Table Tennis Passion Begins
“Marty Supreme,” which premieres in German cinemas on February 26, was filmed in 2024, but Chalamet began his table tennis training back in 2018. While it’s common in Hollywood to prepare for physical roles for six months or a year, Chalamet stayed on the ball—both figuratively and literally—for six years.
In 2018, the then 22-year-old learned about the possibility that “Marty Supreme” would be produced and that he could take the lead role. That alone was enough for him to seize every opportunity to learn and perfect table tennis, as director Josh Safdie revealed in an interview with “The Hollywood Reporter.” “That’s how I was before I had a career,” Timothée Chalamet added in the same interview.
Specifically, this meant that Chalamet initially took table tennis lessons at a studio in Manhattan, New York. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone into lockdown, the actor cleared out the living room of his New York apartment and equipped the space with everything he needed for his table tennis training, including a table tennis table. This was four years before the start of the “Marty Supreme” filming.
Secretly on Film Sets–Chalamet Had a Table Tennis Table Everywhere
The table tennis table would remain Chalamet’s constant companion in the following years—and mostly in secret.
After the pandemic, several major film projects awaited Timothée Chalamet, while it was still unclear if and when the table tennis film could be realized. But the Hollywood star apparently wasn’t deterred by this; he remained committed to his table tennis training. Even challenging roles like Paul Atreides in “Dune” or Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” didn’t stop him. And that says a lot, as he had to learn choreography, combat techniques, guitar playing, and singing for these roles.
“No matter what I was working on, I had this secret: I had a table tennis table in London while I was doing Wonka. During the filming of ‘Dune 2,’ I had a table in both Budapest and Jordan. I had a table in Abu Dhabi, and when I was at the Cannes Film Festival for ‘The French Dispatch,’ I rented an Airbnb in a town near Saint-Tropez overlooking the water and took training sessions there,” Timothée Chalamet revealed.
It was apparently particularly difficult to maintain his passion for table tennis during the preparation and filming of “A Complete Unknown.” The actor seemed to anticipate that this double burden might be the hardest for the public to believe. However, he emphasized: “If anyone thinks this is ‘cap,’ as the kids say—meaning it’s made up—it’s all documented and will also be published. These were the two luxury projects I had years to work on. That’s the truth. I worked on both things in parallel.”
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Not Modern, but 1950s Table Tennis
This ambition paid off, not only because the “Marty Supreme” project eventually got the green light for production, but also because Chalamet’s table tennis skills reached a level where a stunt double was unnecessary. The search for one had previously proven difficult: they simply couldn’t find someone who matched the necessary table tennis level, looked like Timothée Chalamet, and could move like the actor.
As the film project became concrete, the now 28-year-old actor received training support from former U.S. Olympian Wei Wang and table tennis expert Diego Schaaf. The latter was responsible for credible table tennis scenes in “Forrest Gump.” He was surprised and impressed by Chalamet’s skills—and helped the Hollywood star fine-tune his table tennis game. “We really delved deep last summer,” Schaaf explained in another “The Hollywood Reporter” report. “We had to bring the mechanics of the strokes to a world-class level of the 1950s (the time in which the film is set, Ed.), which is significantly different from how the sport is played today.”
How Good Timothée Chalamet Became at Table Tennis
After years of training, Chalamet had to abandon the modern style of play and instead learn how it was played 70 years ago. “As a dancer, Timothée immediately understood how he needed to move. But we had to make it work during very fast table tennis games,” Schaaf explained. “Different styles involve different strokes, and he understood all of that. He wasn’t interested in just doing the minimum. Even when he got it right, he said, ‘Let’s do it again.'”
This commitment convinced everyone involved that Chalamet should play table tennis himself in the film. With small tricks, the actor and the film team managed to portray movements and strokes that only top table tennis pros can master. “Timothée understood the sport well enough to assess how difficult a stroke would be—and how it should look when it actually succeeds,” the table tennis pro explained. This allowed them to correct challenging strokes that Chalamet missed in post-production. “In recreational table tennis, you hardly move. Here, it was physically extremely demanding. He memorized every point, every movement, every stroke. The timing was crucial—some balls float, others move very quickly—and he understood that immediately. He delivered incredibly well.”