Casting director Jennifer Venditti shares inside stories from assembling the stars of Josh Safdie’s latest, starring Timothée Chalamet as a world-class ping-pong player.

‘It always starts with the face’: Building Marty Supreme’s ensemble cast, from pros to newbies

Casting director Jennifer Venditti shares inside stories from assembling the stars of Josh Safdie's latest, starring Timothée Chalamet as a world-class ping-pong player.

By Clarissa Cruz

Clarissa Cruz is an Executive Editor at and co-host of The Awardist podcast. She has also appeared as an entertainment expert on the Today show, The CBS Early Show, Good Morning America, E! and Access Hollywood.

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December 4, 2025 11:15 a.m. ET

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Timothée Chalamet in 'Marty Supreme'. Credit:

One of the most memorable things about *Marty Supreme*, Josh Safdie’s frenetic, globetrotting ode to ping-pong and unapologetic striving, are the faces: not just the familiar ones of stars Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow, but the visages in a distinctive and sprawling supporting cast that includes Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, Penn Jillette, Isaac Mizrahi, and travel writer and essayist Pico Iyer. Casting director Jennifer Venditti (*Euphoria, Uncut Gems*) gave us a peek into her process.

**: *Marty Supreme* captures the energy of NYC’s Lower East Side in the 1950s so well, and a lot of this has to do with the casting. What do you look for in a face?**

**JENNIFER VENDITTI:** It always starts with the face. And the thing that's so lucky is Josh [Safdie] and I have this kind of kindred spirit. We see the cinema of real life. I'm looking for life expressed on a face. And it doesn't mean that you have to have lived a long time. It’s just like an aliveness. It's in the eyes, it's in the quality of the skin. And it pulls you in. It makes you want to know more.

**This is obviously a period piece: the faces are different because there are certain procedures and things that were not available then that are prevalent now. **

You're bringing up a really good point because that was something we had to be very aware of. Josh was really kind of obsessed with hair. He didn't want to use wigs. If they had something that would make it difficult to take away the modern quality, then we couldn't use them. Their teeth. Or their eyebrows. Like you said, anything cosmetic. We're super aware of wanting the face to not take you out of the time.

**What was your approach in casting *Marty Supreme* specifically and how was it different from your previous projects?**

The way it was different is the scale. We kept losing count, but I think it was 150 [speaking parts]. We were doing open calls, we were scouting on the street, we were seeing audition tapes from actors. Once the people are found, that's just half of it. Then we have to bring them in and take them through many different phases to see if they can actually do what we need them to do in the film.

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**What were some of the stories behind the castings? **

For the bowling hall scene, we had scouted Isaac [Simon] for another project that never happened, and he just happened to be really good at ping-pong. So I had Levon [Hawke] and him come in. And we had a big ping-pong table at my office. And they just played and improv-ed as we filmed them. It was so cinematic.

Luke [Manley], who played Dion, oh my god, bless him. We found him on Instagram. A friend, Nico, has this great Instagram page that has lots of New York characters on it. He came and he was so natural. And he's just so lovable.

Some things are instant. Like Isaac Mizrahi. I knew it right away. And Josh had known Isaac, because Josh grew up in New York City. I think Isaac lived above one of his friends. Isaac knew Josh when he was like a little kid. He has a timeless throwback quality.

Kevin [O’Leary]’s role in *Shark Tank* is like a modern-day version of Rockwell. [*Laughs*]

Kevin O'Leary talks to Timothée Chalamet in 'Marty Supreme'.

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Obviously he doesn't audition, but we can kind of see it within the work that he's done. And who he is as a person.

Odessa [A’zion] had auditioned for me a while back for something and I never forgot her. And then this came up. I think she's so unique and she has such a quality about her that's raw. Her voice, her scrappiness. Her acting abilities are incredible.

Everyone just brought their A-game. God, [Timmy] just goes hard. So dedicated to his training and to his focus. Tyler [Okonma, a.k.a. Tyler, the Creator] was another one. Josh had met him a long time ago, and he's so perfect for this period. He is a shapeshifter and one of those unicorns of humans.

**Timothée and Gwyneth are professional actors, but they're both also New York kids. **

My gosh, you're right. I didn't even think of that. The scene in Central Park [with Gwyneth and] the two cops, both those guys were non-actors. I don't think it's in the film, but they started improv-ing with Gwyneth. And those guys have seen some life, you know what I mean? And that really informs their performances because she doesn't know where this is going to go. It’s unpredictable in that way.

Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Marty Supreme'.

**You cast people who are very well known for other things, like writer Pico Iyer. Has he ever acted before? **

No. He has a Ted Talk called, something like "What Ping-Pong taught me about life". So he's a huge fan. And he played the head of the International Table Tennis Association, and he was supposed to be this intimidating kind of man. And it's that casting off type: Pico's very silent. He's elegant. He's calm. And sometimes that's more menacing than someone that's screaming at you.

**How did you and Josh work with the non-professional actors?**

We’re a great partnership because I can't do this with everyone. I warm [the actors] up and I get them ready. But once they get to set and all the other actors are around, [Josh is] an incredible coach. We both love humanity in this way that's so genuine and so insatiable. He treats everyone the same way that he would treat Timothée or Gwyneth or Odessa. And he's equally as excited about the person that has one line as the person that has 80 lines.

*This interview has been edited for clarity and length.***

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