Did Marty Mauser exist? The True Story Behind Marty Surpreme

Passionate about ping pong, director Josh Safdie tells us how he discovered the true story of Marty Reisman, the eccentric American champion of the 1950s who inspired the character of Timothée Chalamet.

In Marty Supremeactor Timothée Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, a ping-pong prodigy who goes through tournaments and dubious schemes in underworld New York to finance his travels. Fictional character… but inspired by a real phenomenon: Marty Reisman, New York legend with 22 major titles won between 1946 and 2002, including two US Opens and a British Open.

Director Josh Safdie discovered Reisman thanks to the book ““The Money Player”offered by his wife. Fascinated, he began to imagine the story ofa provincial dreamer from the Lower East Side propelled onto the world stage by sheer force of will.

Even if the screenplay does not directly adapt the autobiography, it opens a door to a forgotten subculture of marginal New York City: obsessive gamblers, scammers, dreamers, a whole fauna that Safdie knew indirectly, his uncle having played with some of them in the Lower East Side neighborhood. Josh Safdie tells in the new issue of Première (number 570, currently on newsstands and on the online store) his passion for the little white ball:

“I played ping-pong when I was young. I even thought for a moment that it could be serious. But in my first tournament, I was demolished by an Austrian player. I gave up. Ping-pong is a family affair: my father played it and my great-uncle too. It was he who described to me in detail this world of table tennis in New York in the 1950s. It was still a small, despised sport. He introduced me to the champions of that era: Dick Miles, Sol Schiff, and Marty Reisman of course. He also told me about this place which fascinated me: Lawrence’s Table Tennis Club which attracted a whole host of misfits and misfits: very intelligent people, with very high IQs, but who had very bad grades at school. Guys who were socially humiliated, but with a very developed competitive spirit…”.

Everything is based on a true story. And even if Marty Supreme exaggerated romance, even inventive, lots of little details come together with reality. For example, Reisman did sell shoes (but later, and not to a relative). Born on East Broadway, the son of a taxi driver, he started playing ping-pong at age 9. Very quickly, he transformed his talent into a business: at the Lawrence’s Table Tennis club, he attracted his opponents, deliberately losing a few rounds before doubling the stakes and revealing his true level. A con artist who burned life at both ends, as shown in the film.

Beware of spoilers!

Marty Supreme places its great failure in 1952 in London. This traumatic defeat did indeed take place. But in reality, it was in Bombay during the World Table Tennis Championships. Favorite, Marty Reisman lost in the first round (and not in the final) against the Japanese Hiroji Satoh, pioneer of a revolutionary foam racket – who would go on to win the title.

In total, Marty Reisman still won five world medals, including several with his friend from the Lawrence’s club, Douglas Cartland (who becomes Wally in the film). And there again, the two are indeed off on a world tour opening for the Harlem Globetrotters, hitting the ball with frying pans or sneaker soles.

The destiny of Marty Mauser is therefore very close to that of Marty Reisman. The main difference lies in the great love stories invented for the script. There is no Hollywood actress named Key Stone, who would have been a 1930s movie star. Likewise, Marty did not have a child with someone named Rachel Mizler. They were entirely invented for the film. The real Marty was married twice and had a more low-key personal life than the film suggests. Rachel is more or less inspired by his first wife, Geri Falk, with whom he actually had a daughter.

After his global adventures, Marty opened the Riverside Table Tennis Club on 96th Street in Manhattan in the late 1950s. A select ping-pong club where Dustin Hoffman, Bobby Fischer, and even Kurt Vonnegut met.

He would continue to play until his death in 2012, while chairing Table Tennis Nation, which he founded to promote the sport.

Marty Supreme is currently to be seen in cinemas in France.