Kevin O’Leary says he shaped Milton Rockwell in Josh Safdie’s 'Marty Supreme'

Kevin O’Leary, the “Shark Tank” investor, made his film debut as Milton Rockwell in Josh Safdie’s table tennis drama "Marty Supreme." Safdie told O’Leary he was looking for "a real [expletive], and you’re it," and the role casts him as a wealthy businessman who holds the purse strings for Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Mauser.

O’Leary said he read the script closely, at one point printing two copies and getting reactions from friends and family, and was among a cast of about 150 that included musicians, comedians and other nonactors such as the rapper Tyler, the Creator, the basketball player Tracy McGrady and the designer Isaac Mizrahi.

Casting director Jennifer Venditti said she and the Safdies sought people whose real lives inform their characters. He said he suggested changes to make Milton more ruthless and worked with co-writer Ronald Bronstein and Safdie on dialogue; a bedroom detail was changed at the suggestion of O’Leary’s wife.

O’Leary also supplied real watches for the role — a functioning Patek Philippe from the 1950s and a Seiko Super that Seiko provided — and wore two watches in the film set to New York and Tokyo time. He mentioned a deleted scene about promising Marty the two-time-zone watches that did not make the final cut.

Key Topics

Culture, Kevin O'leary, Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie, Timothée Chalamet, Patek Philippe