5 minutes of readingNew DelhiJanuary 30, 2026 12:10 pm IST
He academy awards season It is upon us and everyone is focused on promoting their films. However, things are not going well for actor Timothee Chalamet and his film Marty Supreme. Director Josh Safdie has been implicated in a disturbing incident that occurred on the set of his film Good Times, which he co-directed with his brother Ben Safdie. The incident resurfaced recently and now Josh has apparently walked out on a planned Q&A session for Marty Supreme.
Why did Josh Safdie leave the Marty Supreme event?
To promote the film, the filmmakers had hosted a question-and-answer session in New York City, where they planned to screen the film before opening the floor for questions. Chalamet had participated in a similar event before and this time Josh was supposed to join. But recent promotional materials that have been released on X have completely omitted the director’s name, leading people to believe that he has retired. Now the event flyer only mentions Chalamet’s name.
It appears Josh Safdie has been eliminated from tomorrow’s Q&A with Timothée Chalamet in New York pic.twitter.com/QrGKdK4b0s
– Alec Lafavore (@Alafavore) January 29, 2026
What is the controversy due to?
Ever since the Safdie brothers (Josh Safdie and Ben Safdie) announced their split without giving any particular reason, fans have been wondering what led to their split. The brothers co-directed films like Good Time and Uncut Gems, so splitting up seemed like a bad business decision. But a report from the California Post suggested that the split came about because of something that happened on the sets of Good Time.
The report claims that actor Buddy Duress exposed himself to a 17-year-old actress, who was making her debut in the film. This was during a scene where he was not asked to expose himself. Another Post reporter told the same story and wrote that Josh found out the actress’s age later that day, and Benny didn’t know anything about the same. This, apparently, was “the last straw for Benny.” On the other hand, despite the separation, the brothers have shown up to support each other at work and have been seen together on family vacations.
Marty Supreme under the gun
Both brothers decided to make a sports biopic in 2025, with Ben directing The Smashing Machine and Josh making Mary Supreme. Marty Supreme has done wonders at the box office, but The Smashing Machine struggled throughout. While the timing of this entire episode seems like a classic Oscar smear campaign, the story has shockwaves in Hollywood. Marty Supreme has been nominated in 9 categories, but there is a possibility that the film could be affected due to the resurfacing of the Good Times incident. If Chalamet loses the Best Actor award this year, this will be his third nomination in the category without winning. As the awards season has turned out, Chalamet seems to be in first place.
The other cloud hanging over the film is the real-life story and its origins. The film is loosely based on the life of table tennis player Marty Reisman. The player’s family told the Daily Mail that they did not bless the film and that the producers “benefited by externalizing the harm and invoked Marty’s name without attribution or compensation.” Josh and his writers have argued that they have written a fictional story and even changed Marty’s last name to Mauser.
Story continues below this ad.
Josh Safdie and actor Odessa A’zion at a Marty Supreme event. (Photo: IMDb)
Josh told the Hollywood Reporter that he had always been committed to making a movie about table tennis. He talked about how his wife Sara Rossein learned about Reisman’s biography and how it made her want to tell that story. He said, “It had kind of an original look on the cover. I showed it to Timmy because he and I were talking at the beginning of all this. I said, ‘I want to make a movie in this world. Look at what this player is like.’ He goes, ‘Shit, that looks like me.'”
While they have written a “fictional” story, Josh said the similarities to Reisman’s real life are a “tribute” to the player and that he was their “entry point into the world.”
Josh has yet to address the many controversies that have surrounded him in recent weeks. It seems that the creators of Marty Supreme are trying to distance themselves from these controversies.