'Marty Supreme' director raves about Timothee Chalamet's passion

For years, Timothee Chalamet prepared for his role in Marty Supreme, which is acknowledged by the film's director, Josh Safdie.

He tells Variety that the Dune star's character, who plays a table tennis player, trained with an expert like Diego Schaaf.

But the stakes went up when he faced real-life professional player Koto Kawaguchi in the movie. Though the Academy-nominated actor loses to him in a match in London.

However, his strife for authenticity did not wane as Josh recalls Timothee “would be so in character, he’s like, ‘I want to win the next points. We have to play.' Kawaguchi was game."

It became so intense that "At one point he said to me, it’s like, you know, I’m not an actor, you know, I’m a table tennis player. And you know, I’m doing a lot of acting right now.”

The star himself reflects on facing Koto, sharing that the pressure was “huge," but added he also has “a responsibility to that community and to the aficionados and people that are passionate about that sport.”

Marty Supreme is playing in theatres now.