Timothee Chalamet, 29 year-old, award-winning actor is starring in Marty Supreme directed by Josh Safdie in theaters this Christmas. While it is no secret that Chalamet is an extremely talented and ambitious actor who is equally aspiring as inspiring, he is also loved by all his co-stars and has made it a point to share his goals of greatness in the entertainment industry, as seen in his acceptance speech for Best Actor at the 2025 SAG Awards. He challenges himself through iconic characters, method acting, and now marketing. Specifically for his role as Marty Mauser in the highly-anticipated and oscar-buzzing dramedy, Marty Supreme. Chalamet has passionately promoted this project, pulling out the most extravagant stops such as pop up shops selling merchandise based on the movie, a literal blimp floating through the sky, and through influence.
Celebrities and public figures have a huge influence when it comes to marketing campaigns, whether it is promotion for a movie, television series, upcoming interview, new merchandise, a tour, or even a new song or album. They have easy access and leverage to getting people to want whatever product, idea, or person they are trying to sell. In this case, Chalamet is doing a pretty great job at selling this movie through his own excitement and pride for the project. He has been seen wearing merchandise for the film for the last couple of months. Specifically the iconic Marty Supreme zip-up jacket, which Chalamet has been sending to his close friends to wear. Some of these people include Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Tom Brady, Justin Bieber, Bill Nye, Kid Cudi, and many more. He then posted pictures of the people wearing the jacket, writing “Dream Big” in orange electronic marker, uneven and often sloppy, really honing in on this theme of greatness and an archetypal representation of his character’s ideologies and goals in Marty Supreme.
The infamous Marty Supreme blimp has been spotted by fans and passersby in Texas and California, even flying over his co-star, Tyler, The Creator’s famous music festival Camp Flog Gnaw. A literal blimp with the sole purpose of getting people to visually see and hear about the Marty Supreme movie in a unique way, opposed to just a two minute trailer or physical advertisement on the outside of buildings. It was an especially genius and well-thought out feat to fly it over the Camp Flog Gnaw music festival, and there is a fan theory on social media that Chalamet is the secret identity of underground rapper EsDeeKid, who was performing at the festival. Chalamet clearly knows his fanbase and the demographic of people who are most likely to see his films. Whether they know of him through his persona or support of the underground rap industry, are fans of his own acting projects, or fans of his co-star Tyler, this was the perfect place to fly the blimp promoting it. Partnered with the amount of celebrities at this music festival, there was ample opportunity for Chalamet to recruit more people into wearing the Marty Supreme zip-up jacket as well.
Finally, with the seemingly enormous marketing budget for this film, Chalamet was able to bring in one of his favorite places – his home of New York City. Chalamet posted a flyer for a merchandise pop event and store on his Instagram story with the location and time covered, whipping his fans and followers into a frenzy. Soon after, he revealed his very own Marty Supreme merch store only open for a couple of hours off of Canal Street. Due to the exclusivity and Chalamet’s caption on the post of the flyer, “c u at 7” insinuating an appearance, the line was wrapped around the block and the color variations of the infamous zip-up jacket that he and his peers had been wearing sold out extremely early. Film lovers and supporters of Chalamet’s personal career lined up in the cold for the opportunity to meet him, see him, or to buy the merchandise inside the store. Arriving a few minutes after seven in a sprinter van, Chalamet walked into the pop-up store’s entrance surrounded by guards in all black wearing large ping-pong ball heads, giving homage to the iconic ping-pong player and champion’s legacy of Marty Muser. He was seen wearing yet another variation, now a baby pink version of the zip-up. Through his own presence at the pop-up as a celebrity and rarity of the apparel being sold, people flocked to the location. News stations, paparazzi, journalists, fans, even police covered the streets, successfully catching the attention of passersby as well.
While it isn’t uncommon for actors to be included in the marketing campaigns for their movies, it is uncommon to see them spearheading it. Being the person behind the merch design, behind the color ways and themes, and to do it so vocally and proudly. Timothee Chalamet’s pride for this film, Marty Supreme and his character Marty Mauser is refreshing and unique to see. He even released an 18 minute parody video of him and the team going over his ideas that have now been executed fully. He has used his voice and influence as a famous public figure to really market for his own film. From completely shifting his style to merchandise and a form of marketing for the movie, or the impressive lengths he’s gone to to make sure everyone knows that Marty Supreme comes out on Christmas Day. He is a marketing team’s dream, as he wants to do their job; Timothee Chalamet might have a new profession as “head of marketing” or a creative director in his near future.