Just one year after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet is taking on the role of another young, brash legend. The Oscar-nominated actor stars as professional table tennis player Marty Mauser in the new sports drama Marty Supreme, in theaters December 25.
Marty Supreme, which is set in 1950s New York City, follows the eccentric Mauser as he pursues his dreams of ping-pong greatness by any means necessary. Unlike A Complete Unknown, however, Marty Supreme is not a biopic, but a fictional story loosely based on real-life table tennis champion Marty Reisman.
Blending fact with fiction, the movie is based on Reisman’s persona and was inspired by his 1974 autobiography The Money Player: The Confessions of America’s Greatest Table Tennis Champion and Hustler.
Here’s what you should know about Marty Reisman, the inspiration behind Marty Supreme.
Who Was Marty Reisman, the Real-Life Inspiration for Marty Supreme?
Dubbed “The Needle” for his thin build, Marty Reisman was an award-winning table tennis player known for his eccentric personality and daring showmanship. Born to Russian Jewish immigrants in 1930, Reisman grew up in a low-income household on NYC’s Lower East Side. He first discovered table tennis as a child after suffering a “nervous breakdown” at the age of 9, learning to play at a local community center, he told Forbes.
Reisman initially found the sport soothing, but quickly leaned into the competitiveness of the game and started playing for money. At 13 years old, he became the city’s junior champion and soon began hustling a substantial amount of cash at Lawrence’s Broadway Table Tennis Club. It was there that he developed his signature showmanship skills, which would come to include his 115-mile-per-hour forehand shot known as the “Atomic Blast.”
Why Was Marty Reisman Suspended for Hustling?
Around this time, Reisman also started placing bets on himself. “I only bet on a sure thing—myself,” he wrote in his memoir. “Table-tennis players have to survive by their own wits.” Often, he would lure his opponents into placing high wagers by intentionally playing poorly at first, before showcasing his true skills and winning the match.
This so-called “money player” persona, however, often got the best of him once he made it to the big leagues. Unlike the underground table tennis scene, gambling was frowned upon at the professional level. At a national tournament in Detroit, a 15-year-old Reisman went to place a $500 bet on himself and mistakenly handed the money to the head of the United States Table Tennis Association (USTTA) instead of his bookie. He was promptly escorted out of the tournament by the police.
Most notably, Reisman was suspended by the USTTA and banned from the U.S. Team after winning the 1949 British Open for charging lavish expenses to tournament sponsors. But that didn’t stop him from having a long and successful career.
Did Marty Reisman Really Open for the Harlem Globetrotters?
From 1949 to 1951, Reisman traveled around the world performing a ping-pong comedy routine as the opening act for the Harlem Globetrotters, wowing audiences with his impressive trick shots. One such trick involved using his signature forehead shot to slice cigarettes in half. At other times, he would play using a trash can lid, a shoe, and other various items instead of a paddle.
Why Did Marty Reisman Champion Hardbat Paddles?
The unusual gig with the Harlem Globetrotters was so successful and popular that the USTTA decided to lift his suspension just in time for the 1952 World Table Tennis Championships in Mumbai, India. Reisman was a top contender to win the championship title that year, but he lost in the semi-finals to Japanese player Hiroji Satoh, who used a new sponge rubber paddle instead of the traditional wooden “hardbat” racket.
While he still managed to earn his fifth bronze medal for men’s doubles, the championship defeat moved him to became a lifelong advocate for hardbat paddles.
What Major Titles Did Marty Reisman Win—and How Did He Die?
In addition to his 1949 British Open victory, Reisman went on to win the U.S. Open in 1958 and 1960 for men’s singles and later became the oldest U.S. Hardbat Champion in 1997 at 67 years old. Reisman earned a total of 22 national and international titles before his retirement from competitive table tennis in 2002. He died just 10 years later, in December 2012, from heart and lung complications. He was 82 years old.
How to Watch Marty Supreme
The new film, directed by Josh Safdie, offers a fictionalized account of Reisman’s pursuit of table tennis stardom. Marty Supreme arrives in theaters December 25.
Catherine Caruso joined the Biography.com staff in August 2024, having previously worked as a freelance journalist for several years. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she studied English literature. When she’s not working on a new story, you can find her reading, hitting the gym, or watching too much TV.
