At a Glance
- Josh Safdie revealed an axed ending where Kevin O’Leary’s character literally bites Timothée Chalamet’s neck
- The vampire twist would have shown Marty living for decades after the final match
- A24 rejected the prosthetic-heavy coda set at a 1980s Tears for Fears concert
- Why it matters: It shows how drastically a prestige drama can pivot in development
Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme has stunned audiences as a grounded character study of a ping-pong prodigy chasing greatness. Yet the film once teetered on the edge of full-blown horror, according to comments the director made on the A24 Podcast and flagged by News Of Fort Worth.
The finished movie keeps its feet firmly in reality, but an early draft sent Timothée Chalamet’s aging champion into supernatural territory during the closing minutes. The revelation upends assumptions about the project’s identity as a straight sports drama and highlights the creative swings taken during development.
Vampire Twist Born From Betrayal
The moment of transformation arrives when Marty prepares to break a pact with businessman Milton Rockwell, portrayed by Shark Tank personality Kevin O’Leary. Viewers hear Rockwell hiss a cryptic warning:
> “I was born in 1601. I’m a vampire. I’ve been around forever. I’ve met many Marty Mausers over the centuries. Some of them crossed me, some of them weren’t straight. They weren’t honest. And those are the ones that are still here. You go out and win that game, you’re gonna be here forever, too. And you’ll never be happy. You will never be happy.”
On screen the line plays as psychological intimidation, nothing more. Safdie confirmed, however, that an earlier version treated the claim as literal fact, turning the financier into an immortal predator stalking Marty across centuries.
Axed Finale Spanned Decades
The discarded sequence would have detonated the film’s otherwise realistic tone. After Marty returns to the United States, audiences would have watched him build a business empire well into old age. The montage of decades condensed his rise from paddle-wielding phenom to corporate titan, always haunted by the match that defined him.
The timeline jumps to the 1980s. Marty, now sporting heavy prosthetic aging makeup, attends a Tears for Fears arena show with his granddaughter. Safdie explained the emotional beat driving the scene:
> “He’s thinking about ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ and youth and what does it mean, and he has this success, but he’s not doing the thing that he believed he was born on planet to do.”
The concert backdrop provided a neon-lit stage for the final shock. Rockwell-still youthful, still O’Leary-materializes behind the elderly Marty in the crowd. Without dialogue he leans in and sinks fangs into the champion’s neck, draining him in front of screaming fans. The vampire then slips away as the lights cut to black, ending the film on a freeze-frame of Marty in mid-bite.
Safdie recalled the crew’s commitment, noting, “We built the prosthetics for Timmy and everything.” The production team prepped full aging appliances for Chalamet, transforming the 28-year-old actor into a septuagenarian for the sequence.
Studio Intervened
The brutal coda proved too extreme for A24, the indie studio behind Marty Supreme. Safdie remembered the feedback session:
> “I remember A24, and everyone were like, ‘This is a mistake, right?'”
The pushback convinced filmmakers to abandon the supernatural angle. They rewrote the ending so Rockwell’s vampire claim remains metaphorical, preserving the movie’s tone as a grounded exploration of ambition and regret.
Podcast Confession
Safdie dropped the bombshell during a guest spot on the A24 Podcast, with Cameron R. Hayes of News Of Fort Worth surfacing the quote via the Playlist. The conversation begins unpacking the axed scene around the 45-minute mark, giving listeners a window into abandoned creative instincts.
Impact on Final Film
Removing the vampire element kept Marty Supreme within the prestige-drama lane, aligning it closer to awards-season expectations than midnight-movie shock. The choice also avoided genre whiplash for viewers lured by trailers promising a sports underdog tale.
Yet the ghost of that blood-soaked finale lingers. Rockwell’s cryptic dialogue still hints at something uncanny, a wink to viewers who sense a darker force beneath the corporate maneuvering. The finished cut lets audiences decide whether the financier’s words carry supernatural weight or mere menace.
Key Takeaways
- Josh Safdie confirms Marty Supreme once ended with Kevin O’Leary’s character literally vampirizing Timothée Chalamet
- The sequence required extensive prosthetic work to age Chalamet by decades
- A24 rejected the twist, pushing the story back toward realism
- The axed finale would have reframed the entire film as a centuries-spanning horror fable rather than a grounded sports drama
