Gwyneth Paltrow is coming back to acting! That’s right, after a sabbatical of selling jade eggs, healing crystals, and wellness vibes through her lifestyle brand Goop, she’s ready to grace us with her talent (and not just her ability to sell $75 vitamins).
Our beloved 51-year-old “wellness whisperer” hasn’t been on screen since The Politician on Netflix, where she played—surprise!—a politician. Before that, she was busy saving the universe with a can of aerosol hairspray in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. But now, she’s trading in her capes and crystals to join Hollywood’s current favorite human cinnamon roll, Timothée Chalamet, in an A24 film called Marty Supreme. Yep, the drama we’ve all been waiting for—about…ping pong? Stay with me.
Directed by Josh Safdie, who clearly has a thing for ping pong champions (we all do, right?), the film is described as “loosely” based on the life of Marty Reisman, a man who turned table tennis into his own personal magic show. I mean, with a nickname like “The Wizard of Table Tennis,” you’d expect more wand-waving and less…paddling? But hey, I’m not here to judge.
Safdie, along with his co-writer Ronald Bronstein, cooked up this script with the kind of attention to detail you’d expect when writing a movie about a guy who spent his life whacking a tiny plastic ball over a net. Naturally, Chalamet will be there as the lead and as a producer. That’s right, not only will he mesmerize us with his cheekbones while serving ping pong balls, but he’ll also be calling the shots behind the scenes, alongside the likes of Josh, Ronald, Eli Bush, and Anthony Katagas. It’s like they formed their own championship ping pong doubles team—except, you know, for making movies.
Now, if you’re not up on your Table Tennis Wizards Weekly subscriptions, here’s the rundown on Marty Reisman. He wasn’t just your average ping pong player—you know, the kind who awkwardly slaps the ball across your neighbor’s basement. No, no, Marty was a legend. Starting off as a hustler in Manhattan, he played for bets and prize money, because who needs a 9-to-5 when you can make a living off people underestimating your backhand? He collected 22 major titles in ping pong from 1946 to 2007 (a.k.a. longer than most of us have been alive). At the age of 67, the man became the oldest player to win the U.S. National Hardbat Championship, because apparently, table tennis just gets more exciting with age. Forget golf—this is where the real geriatric action’s at!
Sadly, Marty hung up his paddle for good in 2012, passing away at the age of 82. But don’t worry, because Paltrow, Chalamet, and co. are here to bring his life back to, well, cinematic life—with maybe just a dash of Goop-approved wellness thrown in for good measure. (Who knows? Maybe Timmy’s paddle will be made of organic bamboo.)
So, buckle up, grab your organic gluten-free popcorn, and get ready for Marty Supreme—because when Paltrow, Chalamet, and ping pong collide, you know it’s gonna be an ace.
