Timothee Chalamet’s Oscar run in trouble? Director Josh Safdie drops out of Marty Supreme event after controversy

Looks like Josh Safdie has been removed from tomorrow’s Q&A with Timothée Chalamet in NYC pic.twitter.com/QrGKdK4b0s

— Alec Lafavore (@Alafavore) January 29, 2026

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What is the controversy all about?

Ever since the Safdie brothers (Josh Safdie and Ben Safdie) announced their split without giving any particular reason, fans have been wondering as to what led to their split. The brothers co-directed films like Good Time and Uncut Gems, so it seemed like a bad business move to separate. But a report from the California Post suggested that the split occurred due to something that happened on the sets of Good Time.

The report states that actor Buddy Duress exposed himself to a 17-year-old actor, who was making her debut in the film. This was during a scene where he was not asked to expose himself. Another reporter from the Post, stated the same story and wrote that Josh learnt the female actor’s age later that day, and Benny was kept in the dark about the same. This, allegedly, was “the final straw for Benny”. On the other hand, despite the split, the brothers have shown up to support each other’s work and have been seen together on family holidays.

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Marty Supreme under the gun

Both brothers decided to make a sports biopic in 2025, with Ben helming 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 feels like a classic Oscars smear campaign, the story has shockwaves through Hollywood. Marty Supreme has been nominated in 9 categories, but there is a possibility that the film will suffer because of the Good Times incident resurfacing. If Chalamet loses out on the Best Actor awards this year, this will be his third nomination in the category with no wins. With the way the awards season has turned out, Chalamet seems to be in the top spot.

The other cloud hanging over the film’s head is the real-life story and its origins. The film is loosely based on the life of table-tennis player Marty Reisman. The family of the player told the Daily Mail that they did not bless the film and that the producers “profited while externalising harm and invoked Marty’s name without attribution or compensation.” Josh and his writers have argued that they have written a fictional story, and they even changed Marty’s last name to Mauser.

Josh Safdie and actor Odessa A’zion at an event for Marty Supreme. (Photo: IMDb)

Josh told the Hollywood Reporter that he had always been committed to making a film about table tennis. He talked about his wife Sara Rossein picking up Reisman’s biography and how it made him want to tell that story. He said, “It had this kind of funky-looking guy on the cover. I showed it to Timmy because he and I were talking at the very beginning of all of this. I said to him, ‘I want to do a movie in this world. Check out what this player looks like.’ He’s like, ‘Holy shit, that looks like me.'”

While they have written a ‘fictional’ story, Josh said that the similarities with Reisman’s actual life are an “homage” to the player and that he was his “entry point in the world.”

Josh is yet to address the many controversies that have surrounded him in the last few weeks. It seems that the makers of Marty Supreme are trying to distance themselves from these controversies.