“Always be in the project”: Josh Safdie on Marty Supreme

A London audience recently had a chance to meet with the visionary director behind the cinematic event that is Marty Supreme. During the conversation at BFI, Josh Safdie shared details about his past, spoke about working with such talents as Adam Sandler and Timothée Chalamet, and revealed a surprising cameo in his latest biopic.

As Safdie shared how (noting that all of this is likely to be rather self-indulgent), the need to tell stories can have unexpected sources. First of all, the future director used to lie quite a lot when he was a kid. This allowed him to use his imagination more often and somewhat make use of it. But, it wasn’t only this. Apparently, his father was (and still is) a huge film buff; a “wanna-be filmmaker”, as Safdie put it. He used to make a lot of videos of Josh and his brother, Benny. When Safdie got the tapes from his dad after so many years, he admits he was surprised – he did not recall any of it.

Throughout the years, he has learned a great deal that helped develop his sense of filmmaking. A breakthrough was Daddy Longlegs from 2009, which he calls a “conceptual documentary”. While discussing this particular title, Safdie touched on the idea of surveillance and how he became interested in the public eye. Then, for almost ten years, he worked on Uncut Gems (2019), a film he wanted to make no matter the cost, and “was on his mind every single day” from when he woke up.

It took him and his brother, Benny, a while to reach out to Sandler, for whom they had written the lead role. When asked what the main obstacle was, Safdie says, “Sandler’s manager.” Only after watching Good Time (2017) was the actor so interested in the directors’ energy that he reached out on his own, just to meet them. And that’s when he learned they had a role written especially for him.

Around that time, Safdie had been watching a lot of Iranian Cinema, which shaped him as a filmmaker. He became invested in “experiencing the people’s story in the public” and recalled Rear Window (1954) as an example of it. He also mentioned voyeurism, which can be felt (and seen) on many occasions in Marty Supreme – one of them is the moment when Gwyneth Paltrow’s character arrives for Marty’s semi-finale in London. To achieve this effect, they used sports cameras with the help of Darius Khondji, an acclaimed cinematographer. Safdie has also revealed that the umpire’s voice we hear during this sequence is actually Robert Pattinson.

So, what made him fall in love with Chalamet? Safdie met the actor in 2017, right before his breakthrough in Call Me by Your Name, which premiered the very same year. Chalamet was introduced to him as the “next superstar”, which Safdie felt found to be “already a red flag”. But, the young boy had some personal allure, and they hung out a lot after this. Safdie believes that Chalamet is a great technical actor, whose acting style is “larger than life”. The director also thinks that he is an intense dreamer, just like his character from Marty Supreme. As this trait was unexpressed in his previous films, Safdie decided to finally change it.

Right before wrapping up, Safdie answered some questions from the audience. When asked about any tips for young filmmakers, Safdie mentioned to always “be on the ride” and “be in the project” one is working on.