How Marty Supreme (2025) is Masterminding the Future of Film Casting
2025 witnessed an evolution in the cinematic period piece as directors introduced innovative, groundbreaking techniques to draw their viewers back to a distant time. The blues-infused small-band scores of Sinners (2025), for instance, forge the auditory landscape of a deep south encroached by the rigidity of Jim Crow, whereas the natural lighting and narrow aspect ratios of Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams (2025) evoke the warm antiquity of an early 20th-century Washington state. For the directors that helped trademark one of the most influential recent years in cinema, it truly took much more than a time card and slapping a bonnet on a milkmaid to exhibit an impactful period piece; the traces of the eras within which a narrative is cast must be felt in every component of the filmmaking process. For Josh Safdie’s directorial solo debut, he chose to evoke the atmosphere of his 1950s setting in one of the most unsuspecting aspects of filmmaking: his cast.
Two things struck me during my first screening of the film. First, it was the number of unfamiliar actors and actresses whose outstanding performances I’d yet to see in prior films. So many foreign yet powerful performers graced the screen, whose dominating on-screen presences were matched only by their ambiguity. For every unfamiliar face I instantly fell in love with, however, there were just as many familiar faces whose entry into the Hollywood acting circle I didn’t even know had begun in earnest. “Is that who I think it is?” became a recurring question running through my head. By its end, I felt like I’d watched an extended cut of The Masked Singer. Yet these surprise cameos felt like true actors; they approached their characters with grit and determination, delivering performances that rightfully earned them their respective “actor” Wikipedia tags. And yet, the totality of these surprise appearances offer more than a witty mindgame for audiences to entertain themselves with throughout the performance. They are a critical inclusion that bolster the film’s uniquely captivating tone–the secret ingredient for what makes this film’s atmosphere so striking.
The eyebrows we raise at every surprise inclusion of a performer–iconic or unrecognizable– are no incidental byproducts of the film. When approaching the daunting task of casting over 150 talents to comprise New York’s bustling mid-20th century neighborhoods, Josh Safdie and casting director Jennifer Venditti knew conventional methods would hardly suffice. Indeed, familiarity with the Meisner or Chekhov techniques was no longer enough to deem an aspiring actor worthy of populating the streets these filmmakers sought to recreate; they desired individuals with the personal histories, the street smarts, the right stuff to embody the minds and attitudes of those that populated old New York. In finding such people, Safdie and Venditti knew their film would feel all the more authentic, and all the more resonant as a result.
That’s why, when the casting process fell underway, trained actors were not the first to be approached by Safdie and Venditti. “It’s not that I don’t love actors,” Venditti explained, “when non-actors come into play, it’s when they have a lived experience that can inform the character in a way that the writers maybe didn’t think of, or that theft can add depth to the part.” (Shachat) Venditti first led business-esque interviews for the performers to first understand the traits, perspectives, and experiences an individual can provide the film, before conducting improvisation activities that give each auditionee the autonomy to play and thrive (Shachat). These are essential outlets for the identities of a performer to shine, where performers are surveyed not to determine how they’d fit a particular role, but how their authentic selves may fit within the greater narrative. Through these nonchalant yet deliberate methods of seeing how a newcomer shines in the spotlight, their true stars shined brightly amongst their massive cohort of candidates; the faces of Safdie’s New York had finally made themselves known.
It’s important to note that this is not Safdie and Venditti’s first use of this eclectic casting approach. The pair are famously known for their induction of non-actors into the film circuit. Safdie’s 2017 action thriller Good Times perfectly exhibits this habit, filling his supporting cast with untrained performers to likewise evoke New York City’s ambience. Their 2019 collaboration Uncut Gems repeats the use of non-actors, now also introducing a diverse ensemble of renowned, non-actor celebrities, including Kevin Garnett and The Weeknd. Not only do such inclusions heighten Safdie’s raw, gritty atmosphere, but by effectively casting these celebrities as themselves, the terrifying consequences of meddling with their affairs become all the more recognizable. We cower thinking of ourselves in Adam Sandler’s position, tensely confronting an NBA all-star over stolen jewelry, and we readily feel the stakes that come with fistfighting a music legend like The Weeknd in a dingy nightclub. We’re forced to imagine ourselves pitted against icons we’ve long worshiped, making the tension that trademarks Safdie’s films become all the more impactful.
Yet, Marty Supreme offers stakes wildly different from these films. Our plot is no longer confined to a single evening of antics, and our action is no longer contained within a singular tiny jewelry shop. Now, our scope is larger. We encounter faces in a diverse array of contexts, from the dank alleys of Manhattan, to the suburbs of New Jersey, to the entirety of the world. Thus, Safdie and Venditti’s realist approach to the casting process must not only fill an entire community, but an entire filmic world itself. Subsequently, their resulting ensemble appears far more diverse and multifaceted than that of Safdie’s previous works, which can appear daunting at first to analyze. To sufficiently break down the effects of Safdie and Venditti’s casting, we can categorize the pair’s eclectic ensemble into three groups: non-actors, celebrity cameos, and professional actors, the evaluation of which can help us decipher what causes this casts stand-out impression among Safdie’s filmography, and how such a cast can pave the way for the future of Hollywood’s casting process.
Non-acting performers comprise the greatest quantity of Safdie’s ensemble, and offer a superficial layer of realism to the film’s exhibition of mid 20th-century New York. Safdie and Venditti specifically reached individuals with long, successful careers rooted in NYC’s vibrant socio-cultural and business environment. Lizzi Bougatsos–a New York-based musician, Nancy Shankman–former director of music for NYC Public Schools, and Naomi Fry–a New Yorker staff writer, all make various cameos throughout the performance (Mr. Wavvy), helping comprise Safdie’s NYC backdrop with faces historically versed in the socio-cultural dynamic. Even more effective isare featuring individuals with lives closely aligned to those of the characters they depict. Grocery magnate and Republican runner-up for the 2013 mayoral election John Catsimatidis, for instance, makes an appearance as the father of one of Marty’s former business associates.
Works Cited
Shachat, Sarah. “How ‘Marty Supreme’ Yes-ands the Casting Process” IndieWire, 2025, https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/marty-supreme-casting-director-interview-1235169549
Mr. Wavvy. “Ping-Pong Champions, Basketball Greats, Republican Power Brokers: Every Cameo in ‘Marty Supreme’.” Type.Set.Brooklyn, 26 December 2025, https://typesetbrooklyn.com/articles/marty-supreme-cameos-list
Hoffman, Jordan. “Josh Safdie’s New York: A Guide to All the Cameos in Marty Supreme” Vanity Fair, 2025,
Jackson Palmer is a junior at the School of General Studies at Columbia studying Film and Media Studies. Outside of the classroom, you can find Jackson skiing, rock climbing, baking, spending time at the movies with friends, or performing alongside two of Columbia’s a cappella groups.