Meet the table tennis experts who turned Timothee Chalamet into Marty Supreme

There's often a common thread among the Oscar nominees who go on to win - and it's about a lot more than learning the lines.

Rami Malek had singing and piano lessons and worked with a choreographer to transform himself into Freddie Mercury for Bohemian Rhapsody. Natalie Portman went through intensive ballet training for a year for Black Swan.

And according to filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro was so dedicated to his boxing training for Raging Bull that he could have gone professional himself.

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This year, Timothee Chalamet is the star who really put the hours in when it comes to learning a new skill.

Nominated for best actor at today's Oscars for his portrayal of the self-absorbed wannabe table tennis champ Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme, such was his commitment to the role he started practising his ping pong back in 2018 - reportedly ensuring a table was with him for filming on other productions including Dune and Wonka.

Ahead of filming for Marty Supreme, Chalamet was paired up with table tennis experts Diego Schaaf and Wei Wang, who coach in Los Angeles and also run Alpha Productions, to help any TV or film producers where ping pong skills are required.

Think Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, or Courteney Cox and Paul Rudd, Monica and Mike, playing in Barbados in Friends.

Schaaf says he was initially asked to get involved by a friend who had been contacted by filmmaker Josh Safdie. "We went to Timothée's house," he says. "We spent a few minutes at his house playing and I could tell he can do it. He learns very quickly, he's physically quite talented, so it was not going to be a problem."

By this point in 2024, Chalamet was already a decent player. Schaaf and Wang had to sharpen his skills even further.

"He knew what the strokes had to look like, what the timing had to be, that was critical," says Schaaf, 72. "He was completely committed from the beginning, and he said, 'yeah I want to get this right, and we're going to do what it takes to make it look really good'."

Marty Supreme isn't the first example of Chalamet going beyond the basics.

The 30-year-old has been nominated for best actor twice before - for Call Me By Your Name in 2018, and last year for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

For Call Me By Your Name, he learned Italian. For A Complete Unknown, he spent years learning guitar and Dylan's singing style - at the same time as his table tennis.

Schaaf describes him as "hyper-focused" and able to perform at his best when the cameras were rolling.

"Most of us under pressure, perform a little bit less well. He [Chalamet] shares that by the way with Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks missed everything and then as soon as the camera rolls, he wouldn't miss one."

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So if the Oscars were to award A for effort, maybe this one should go to Chalamet.

The only trouble is, he's up against the now favourite Michael B Jordan - the Sinners star who didn't just play one character but two.

But for Schaaf, there is one winner. Acknowledging the fact he is "super biased", he says: "He put in the work, he put in work.

"That's not saying that all the other guys didn't do the work... I'm sure the other guy worked just as hard and did good. I'm glad I'm not the one who has to distinguish between them. But I saw what [Chalamet] did and what he does is super impressive."

(c) Sky News 2026: Meet the table tennis experts who turned Timothee Chalamet into Marty Supreme