Exclusive | Kevin O’Leary recalls ‘very intense’ butt-paddling scene with Timothée Chalamet on ‘Marty Supreme’
Mr. Wonderful and Timmy are bros for life.
“Shark Tank” host Kevin O’Leary gave insight into his experience working with Timothée Chalamet on the set of “Marty Supreme” while attending the 2026 Golden Globes on Sunday night.
“With Timmy, I didn’t like his character. So it’s really easy to rip him to pieces no problem,” O’Leary, 71, told The Post on the red carpet. “That guy, his blind ambition, and [he] just runs over everybody. He just bulled everybody down.”
Kevin O’Leary at the 83rd Annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 11. FilmMagic
Timothée Chalamet and Kevin O’Leary shooting “Marty Supreme” in Manhattan in 2024. GC Images
“So for me, it was easy to go after him,” O’Leary added. “And so I really enjoyed the moments we had together.”
O’Leary made his acting debut in the Josh Safdie film as rich entrepreneur Milton Rockwell, who mentors aspiring table tennis champion Marty Mauser (Chalamet).
Kevin O’Leary being interviewed by The Post at the 2026 Golden Globes. Page Six
Kevin O’Leary and Timothée Chalamet filming “Marty Supreme” in New York City. GC Images
Timothée Chalamet in “Marty Supreme.” AP
The movie features a scene in which Mauser willingly gets spanked by Rockwell with a real ping pong paddle.
“A lot of the shooting was very light, like the paddle scene was 3:30 in the morning, and there were other sequences in that scene that were very intense,” O’Leary told The Post.
“The humiliation that Milton is going to put this guy through in front of all of his friends in New York. When we were shooting that, it got really tense. I remember on one take for maybe 10 or 15 seconds afterwards, one of the guys said, ‘Whoa. Oh, you guys took that a little too far.’ And, and I said, ‘We just took a breather.’ I wanted that scene in the movie, but Josh didn’t want it in.”
Timothée Chalamet and Kevin O’Leary attend the “Marty Supreme” premiere in New York in December. ZUMAPRESS.com
“I hope he puts it in there on the Blu-ray,” O’Leary added of Safdie, 41. “But that was the height of the craziness between Chalamet and I.”
The Canadian businessman also confirmed that he used a fake ping pong paddle to strike Chalamet, 30, at first, but it broke after only one hit.
“Then I had a real one. I hit him but I was holding back because I didn’t want to hurt him,” O’Leary recalled. “And Josh said, ‘Hey, this doesn’t even look real. You got to wind up and hit him.’ So I started alternating cheeks because they were getting so red.”
Timothée Chalamet, Tyler The Creator and Kevin O’Leary at the “Marty Supreme” New York premiere. Photo Image Press via ZUMA / SplashNews.com
Timothée Chalamet on the poster for “Marty Supreme.” Courtesy Everett Collection
“They say Chalamet’s hot — well, his rear end was radiating heat,” the TV host quipped. “I swear, I must have belted him 20 times until finally Josh said, ‘Look, you’re not doing it enough. Wind up and do one so we can get a shot of his face.’ And when you see his eyes coming out of his head, I wound up back here and went full blast into the right cheek. I can’t imagine how much that must have hurt. It printed the logo of that thing right on his rear end.”
Additionally, O’Leary said he was proud he went out of his “comfort zone” by starring in the film.
“I really enjoyed it. I’m obviously comfortable with Gwyneth [Paltrow] because she was a guest shark three years earlier, and for our little bedroom scene there,” he told The Post.
Kevin O’Leary posing on the red carpet at the 2026 Golden Globes. REUTERS
Timothée Chalamet and Kevin O’Leary on the set of “Marty Supreme” in New York City in 2024. GC Images
During the Golden Globes, O’Leary got a shoutout during Chalamet’s acceptance speech for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.
“If you would have told me when I was 19 years old, I’d be thanking Mr. Wonderful from ‘Shark Tank?’” Chalamet said as O’Leary and the audience laughed.
“All right, you’re laughing, so I got away with that,” the actor added. “Thank you, Kevin — I would have been stunned, but I’ve been very grateful.”
“Marty Supreme” is in theaters now.
