Did You Spot Robert Pattinson's Sneaky 'Marty Supreme' Cameo?
Did you spot Robert Pattinson’s sneaky Marty Supreme cameo? The Batman star makes a voice-only appearance in Josh Safdie’s celebrated ping-pong drama, which at this point seems likely to snag star Timothée Chalamet his first Oscar win.
Pattinson Has a Voice-Only Cameo in Marty Supreme
Pattinson previously worked with Safdie and his brother, Benny Safdie, on their joint directorial effort Good Time (2017). In that film, which set the stage for the Safdies’ manic, anxiety-laden narratives, Pattinson and Benny played brothers who pull off an ill-fated robbery and must survive an endless night in New York City trying to find the right amount of money to make their problems go away. The film was one of Pattinson’s first major post-Twilight career renovations, and is considered by many to be one of the best American movies of the previous decade.
While speaking at London’s BFI Southbank, Josh revealed that Pattinson makes a brief, unseen cameo in Marty Supreme as a nod to his previous work with the filmmaker. The appearance comes early in the film, when the eponymous character attends the British Open and faces off against Hungary’s reigning ping-pong champion, Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig).
“No one knows this, but that voice, the commentator, the umpire, is Pattinson,” Safdie said, calling the brief appearance an “Easter egg” for fans of the actor. tucked into the movie.
Josh Safdie Included Pattinson for Authenticity
The director made the decision to include Pattinson after determining that he wanted the British Open sequence, which was lensed in America, to “feel authentic” despite not having access to any native actors. “He came and watched some stuff and I was like, I don’t know any British people,” Safdie said of Pattinson. “So, he’s the umpire.”
Interestingly, Safide’s revelation provides some tantalizing context for Pattinson’s much-discussed Vanity Fair Lie-Detector Test, which he sat for late last year opposite his Die My Love co-star Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence asked Pattinson if he’d ever want to work with the Safdie brothers again; and though he replied in the affirmative, his answer was marked as “deceptive,” presumably because he’d already worked with them again. The result caused Pattinson to collapse into fits of awkward laughter.
Marty Supreme stars Chalamet as Marty Mauser, a native New Yorker with a dream to be the world’s reigning ping-pong champion, even if it means ignoring the childhood friend (Odessa A’zion) who’s carrying his unborn baby. Along the way he strikes a peculiar friendship with a mournful former film star (Gwyneth Paltrow), whose businessman husband (Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Reilly) could offer the financial support needed to achieve his goal. The sprawling ensemble cast includes Emory Cohen; Tyler, the Creator; Levon Hawke; filmmaker Abel Ferrara; and comedians Fran Drescher, Sandra Bernhard, and Penn Jillette.