Timothee Chalamet held Odessa A'zion's hand through Marty Supreme’s toughest scenes

Ever wonder what it’s like on a Josh Safdie set? Odessa A'zion certainly did.

“And I mean, it’s exactly like the movie,” says A’zion, who stars in Marty Supreme. “It’s chaotic, but it’s fun. It’s stressful. It’s difficult at times – really difficult at times – but it all plays into it. I couldn't believe I was there the whole time I was there.”

That's probably why it's hard to categorise Marty Supreme. To call it just a sports drama doesn’t do it justice.

The fifth collaboration between director Safdie and writer Ronald Bronstein, it's one of the wildest films of the year – full of unexpected turns, unforgettable faces and heightened performances. It might not maintain the same nervously high pitch of the duo's last film, Uncut Gems, but it’s certainly in the same register.

“I don’t even know how they come up with these things,” says A’zion. “You read it, and you think how are we going to execute that? Or like, they’re going to do what with a bathtub?”

As much as the script terrified A’zion – “I have the biggest stage fright in the world, actually,” she says – it’s a world she had long dreamt of being a part of, so this was an opportunity she wasn't going to waste.

A'zion struggled with the film's most emotionally heightened scenes. Photo: A24

Set mostly in 1952 New York City, Marty Supreme is an ode to the rougher edges of the American dream – following an aspiring table tennis player loosely based on the life