Why Timothée Chalamet’s Controversial ‘Marty Supreme’ Rollout Is What Hollywood Needs

Awards season is upon us, and chatter is abounding over how much marketing is too much and whether or not an actor can talk themselves out of an Oscar.

With Marty Supreme, we’re surely going to find out.Timothée Chalamet, not for the first time, has taken over the press for his role in an upcoming movie. In fact it feels like Chalamet has ascended to Head of Marketing for the highly anticipated film Marty Supreme. Most notably, Chalamet has also invoked fashion as a top marketing strategy for this rollout.

His Marty Supreme jacket, a limited-edition windbreaker designed by LA designer Doni Nahmias, is the end-of-year’s hottest new wardrobe addition. Stars like Frank Ocean, Michael Phelps, Kendall Jenner, Tom Brady and many more are proudly sporting the coat. The limited-edition jacket is one of the year’s hardest-to-get items, its acquisition a status symbol for both the fashion and the film community. GQ even suggested crowning it as “the defining garment of 2025.” A Zoom video posted on Instagram shows Chalamet pitching the Marty Supreme marketing team outlandish ideas shows Chalamet has his finger firmly on the pulse of pop culture.A controversial part of Chalamet’s press strategy has been the art of the not-so-humble brag. He hasn’t shied away from letting any and everyone know how much a positive reaction to the film means to him, and his ambitions to finally win the desperately-coveted Oscar are sky-high. MORE FOR YOUHis actions and attitude inspired nothing short of a media frenzy, with The Times even crowning him “Hollywood’s least humble star”. “And it’s been like seven, eight years that I have been handing in really committed top-of-the-line performances — I don’t want people to take it for granted … This is really some top-level shit.” Chalamet told The Times. However, the internet had mixed reactions (shocker). Many fans are even discussing whether Chalamet is destined to talk himself out of an Oscar Award.An extremely valid consideration of critics of Chalamet’s new enhanced bravado is the idea that a woman or person of color could not get away with such confidence and would thus be labeled as arrogant or “doing too much.” But, is it embarrassing to love your art? It’s worth considering that we actually do need more stars who are willing to not only throw themselves into a project, but also be a willing driver of the project’s marketing. If an actor is proud of their work, the least we can expect is active participation through release. “Dream Big,” the film’s tagline, is present throughout this entire affair. With Chalamet dreaming bigger than ever and daring to say his dreams loudly, what can we stand to learn? It’s likely more stars will take an active role in the marketing of their film. Marty Supreme has the potential to set the standard for what an indie version of the iconic Barbie rollout looks like. With a more tailored and less commercial approach, Chalamet has managed to excite audiences with immense precision.Getting Frank Ocean to step into a very increasingly rare public spotlight sighting to sport your film’s merch is a nearly unheard of activation of culture. The involvement of several prominent athletes shows the crossover appeal of the film, and further adds to the narrative that Chalamet’s bravado is significantly reminiscent of the way that athletes speak about their own work as well. The A24-produced film further leans into its underdog mentality; since it’s not a blockbuster like Wicked or Barbie, the scrappy, over-the-top marketing can come off as endearing and exciting, rather than overdone and over-commercialized. A bolder approach to marketing can also be seen as a shift in how Gen Z markets movies versus their Millennial and Gen X counterparts. Chalamet’s behavior displays a deep connection to pop culture, crossing over to music and sports culture, and uniting icons across generations. But the notion of not shying away from asking for exactly what you want is a characteristic exhibited widely by Gen Z in the workplace. Born into a world filled with historical firsts, Gen Z are no strangers to uncertainty, and have thus walked a path of increasing boldness in comparison to their Millennial counterparts. The idea that Timothée Chalamet could ask out loud and explicitly for his deepest desire, an Oscar award and the success that comes with it, is something that Gen Z could see as inspiring rather than excessive. This strategy could be an outlier, but it’s far more likely to mark a shift in indie film marketing. We could see this kind of initiative taken by indie filmmakers and their actors as a strategy to compete with major studio budgets. In today’s attention economy, the most discussed film wins, and getting actors overly involved and invested in the marketing of indie films could provide a new avenue for competition with studios that can afford a hundreds-of-millions marketing budget and over 400 commercial brand collaborations, like that of Universal’s marketing campaign with Wicked and Wicked: For Good. Another result of such a high-profile campaign, especially if it goes well for Chalamet, is paving the way for actors to shamelessly enter their promotional eras. Ask for what you want, proudly aspire to greatness, and collaborate ambitiously across different creative niches - it worked for Marty Supreme.