Timothée Chalamet recalls being threatened by a background actor on Marty Supreme set

"‘I was just in jail for 30 years. You really don’t want to f--- with me. You don’t want to see me angry,’” he recalls

Timothée Chalamet is opening up about a tense and unexpected moment he experienced while filming Marty Supreme. During a recent onstage conversation, the actor shared that a background performer threatened him while they were shooting a motel scene for the film.

Chalamet, who plays obsessive table-tennis prodigy Marty Mauser, explained that the scene involved several non-actors, something he usually finds exciting. “I won’t say who, but in that motel sequence, there are a lot of non-actors… that I find it really thrilling to work with,” he said. “Sometimes it would take multiple takes to really get something out of them.”

While attempting to provoke a stronger reaction during one take, Chalamet said the situation escalated quickly. “I did another take, and then the guy said, ‘I was just in jail for 30 years. You really don’t want to f--- with me. You don’t want to see me angry,’” he recalled.

The remark immediately caught the actor off guard. Chalamet said he turned to director Josh Safdie in disbelief and told him, “Holy s---, who do you have me opposite, man?” The moment drew laughter from the audience as he recounted how quickly the atmosphere on set shifted.

Marty Supreme has since earned significant awards attention, with Chalamet’s performance receiving major accolades and nominations during the current awards season. Despite the unsettling encounter, the actor’s story highlights the unpredictable nature of working with non-professional performers and the lengths filmmakers sometimes go to achieve authenticity on screen.