It’s okay if you watched Marty Supreme and wondered if you had seen the actor playing Marty’s friend Dion before. You haven’t. The movie, co-written and directed by Josh Safdie, is Luke Manley’s film debut, which would be impressive enough.
But when you consider that the 33-year-old New York native not only doesn’t get blown off the screen by the film’s star, Timothée Chalamet, Manley actually holds his own, it’s even more so. Add in the fact that Chalamet might just win a Best Actor Oscar for his work in the film, and Manley’s debut becomes one for the books.
Also one for the books? How Manley got the job in the first place. A drunken performance in a viral video led him down the road to reviews experienced actors would kill for, and, after moving through a series of jobs he hated since graduating from college, a brand-new career he’d never even considered. He talked to us from his home in the New York City suburbs.
Key Insights
- Luke Manley’s first-ever acting role came not from years of training, but from a viral street interview that caught the attention of director Josh Safdie.
- Despite having no acting background, Manley held his own opposite Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme, a performance that may earn Chalamet major awards recognition.
- The audition and filming process relied heavily on improvisation, personal storytelling, and character backstory rather than memorized lines or traditional preparation.
Okay, how did this happen, that you came out of nowhere to be in this movie?
So, there was a Knicks playoff game, this was 2021, and some friends invited me to a watch party at a bar near Madison Square Garden, Mustang Harry’s. So the Knicks get their ass handed to them, everyone’s so pissed off, but we’re like, “You know what? We’re having a good time, let’s just go to MSG.”
And everyone’s booing them, and this Instagram handle, Sidetalk, they have a huge camera with a light on it and a microphone, so everyone’s drawn to it. I grabbed the mic, and I just say the most outlandish thing that came into my mind, I was like, “Trae Young looks like my dad’s dick!” Everyone behind the camera was like, “What the hell did this guy just say?”
I’m curious about that one, too.
It’s the most outlandish thing that I could think of to say, the craziest thing that came to my head. It came out a week later, and oh, my God. I was petrified. I thought, “This is not a good look here.”
Okay, so how did that lead to Marty Supreme?
About three years later, Josh Safdie saw that video, he saw my name was “Fatrick Ewing.”
Fatrick Ewing!
(Laughs) Yeah! So he said, “I want this guy.” I guess he started developing the role of Dion after he saw it. So [casting director] Jennifer Venditti reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in auditioning for this Timothée Chalamet movie.
I thought, “Oh, my God, are you kidding me?” I knew the Safdie brothers from Uncut Gems, and Chalamet, I knew he’s a huge actor. So I thought, “Okay, I’ll be a background guy and get a couple hundred bucks and it’d be a cool thing to say I’m in.”
But obviously it was a lot more than that. How did you prepare for the audition?
She said they were going to keep it loose, like, “You’re not going to memorize anything, just going to come in and there’ll be an interview, and maybe we’ll have you improv with some actors.”
Okay, so then, how did you prepare for that? Or didn’t you?
I didn’t, honestly. I looked up improv on Reddit, but no, I mean, I thought, it’s off the cuff improv, I’ll be okay at it maybe. So I didn’t really prepare at all. What could I prepare? They said it would be loose and fun. Like, we’re going to talk and see how this goes.
How does that process then happen in the interview? Was Josh there?
He wasn’t there. Just Jennifer and a couple of her associates. We just went in a room with lights, and she interviewed me about everything. We talked for a solid 20 or 30 minutes about my life, my dad, my mom, grade school, how the Jets suck, how the Knicks suck, everything, but it was very nice. She’s awesome. It’s so easy to talk to her.
Then she brought in two actors and said, “You have your dad’s car keys, and they’re gonna try to make you give them the keys, and you can’t do it.” They first time they asked me, I said, “Sure. Here.” (Laughs) Jen says, “No, no, you can’t give it to him under any circumstances.” Then the second time, I guess I did great. I kind of blacked out on what I was saying and what I was doing, but it went well. Then it was like, “All right, we’ll let you know.”
How long did it take to for them to tell you?
I think about a month. This was the summer, and they let me know when I was on vacation at the Jersey Shore with my family. They said, “You have a 98% chance of getting it.” I was very happy, and everyone else was happy, but 98% is still on the fence.
They had me do a camera test, and I didn’t even realize that I had the role yet. So there’s Josh and [cinematographer] Darius Khondji and a bunch of camera operators and lighting guys, yeah, and me and Jimmy Lindquist, who plays the hotel owner in the movie. He’s a character.
What did they have you do?
They just had us walk toward the camera, stare into it, and then walk to the right about 100 times. I guess they use different lenses, different lighting every time, just to see us on camera. It was a crazy experience.
I asked Josh that day, “Hey, do I have the role?” And he said, “Yeah, of course you do.” That was amazing. There was one more camera test, with me and Chalamet. That was awesome. Such a nice guy.
So, now you have the role, you’ve never acted before, how did they get you camera-ready?
Josh and [co-writer] Ronnie Bronstein are psychopaths, in a good way. They wrote a whole backstory on Dion, and I had some questions, like, “Is he a gambler?” Other random things like that, and Josh always right away had an answer. I had my own backstory on him, too, and that’s how I prepared. Josh didn’t give me any lines at all.
Wait, what?
Yeah, he didn’t give me the script until the night before shooting, and it was just my lines. He said, “Don’t memorize them. Get the feel of the scene and the emotion of the scene.”
Did that make it easier, knowing you didn’t have to memorize anything?
Yes and no. Not knowing anything about the movie was kind of weird, but the first day on set, we just spent four hours filming that scene where he’s spray painting the ball. Just that little thing, and I thought, “Okay, this is kind of nuts.”
Yeah, filmmaking takes a long time.
Right? The next time, we’re in a building in Paterson, New Jersey. It was me, Chalamet, and my dad in the movie, John Catsimatidis. That was the most fun day, because John’s a character, too.
We were there for eight or nine hours and had a lot of downtime, so it was a lot of just me and Chalamet and John talking. We got to riff a lot, and we got to improv a lot, and I was like, “Okay, wow. This is great.”
It sounds like there were a lot of characters in the movie, and you fit right in.
(Laughs) Exactly. I noticed that in the ping-pong parlor. I was looking around, like, “Holy shit, these people got a look to them. Then I realized, “Oh, wow, I guess I must, too.”
What’s next? You have representation. Are you looking to get more acting work?
My manager just sent me a script for a small part in a movie. It’s not a major role, but it’s a comedic part, which I think is good. But I want to study some. I mean, who the hell am I fooling? I’m not Leonardo DiCaprio. I definitely need to study this and learn how to do it, because I never memorized lines, and most movies won’t be like that, so I know I gotta get better at it.
I know I got a golden ticket. I can’t spoil it. My first role is as Timothée Chalamet’s best friend, and there are people doing it for 20 years that have never got that shot. I’m in a stupid viral Knicks video, and so it’s crazy, and it’s awesome, but I can’t just be like, “Oh yeah, I’m gonna be fine.” No, I gotta study and work for everything now.
Key Takeaways
- Unconventional paths, including viral moments, can sometimes open doors that formal routes never do.
- Casting directors and filmmakers often look for authenticity and presence, not just résumés or training.
- A breakout opportunity can be a starting line, not a finish, and sustained success still requires study, humility, and hard work.
