Timothee Chalamet's bizarre method acting hacks of blinding himself and shunning friends goes unrewarded as he suffers humiliating setback on his mission to become 'one of the greats' after Oscars own goal

Timothee Chalamet's bizarre method acting hacks have been revealed after the star suffered a humiliating setback on his mission to become 'one of the greats'.

It took seven years to get Marty Supreme off the ground, during which time Timothee, 30, went to extreme lengths to master his role as table tennis player Marty.

Yet on Sunday, the American-French actor suffered a blip on his path to greatness as he lost out on the Best Actor award at the Oscars despite a strong start to his awards season campaign. 

Timothee had had been bookies' favourite to take home the top prize until March 5, when his Variety interview with Matthew McConaughey went viral, in which he said he wouldn't want to work in ballet or opera, because 'no one cares about it'.

With mounting backlash and Oscars voting still open at the time, Michael B Jordan then became the frontrunner for his work in Sinners, resulting in Timothee suffering an own goal when he lost out on the award. 

It was a miserable end to Timothee's seven-year campaign to master the role - during which time he insisted on having a ping pong table around him at all times. 

Speaking with Jimmy Fallon, Timothée explained he was dedicated to mastering the sport, revealing there was a 'six to seven year training process', after he first met with director Josh Safdie about the role in 2018. 

'It was a lot of training,' he explained. 'It started during Covid and ping pong is a great thing.

'The gift of my life, the gratitude exercise. I live every morning to go "Wow. For some reason I'm getting the opportunity to work", why not go 10,000% hard.'

Previously speaking to the BBC the A Complete Unknown star said he would 'train as much as possible' in his downtime and with a coach.

This included bringing a ping pong table to the desert while filming Dune and practicing between takes on the set of Wonka.

'By the time the French Dispatch was coming out [in 2021], I was in a beautiful Airbnb on a cliffside for the Cannes Film Festival and I had a table with me... So I have a video of training with friends. It's like a gorgeous sunset.

'I think the responsibility in this movie, like in the Bob Dylan movie, if you were a Dylan fan or a guitar player, [is to make sure] that looks real to you on screen. Similarly here, if you're a ping-pong aficionado, that that looks believable to you.'

Grateful for his success in Hollywood's famously cutthroat industry, he added: 'There's worse things in life than having to learn how to play the guitar and play table tennis at a high level.'

He added: 'This is a movie about sacrifice in pursuit of a dream. And it's something I can relate to deeply.

Timothee also committed to the role by deliberately blinding himself with strong contact lenses that would blur his vision and leave him feeling 'dizzy', forcing him to wear his character's prescription glasses.

Explaining the reasoning, Timothee shared: 'From an actor's perspective, it makes you more impaired, but from an audience perspective, gives me these little beady eyes. 

'But that perspective also enhances it. It got me into the world of Marty Reisman, who's living sort of a life of impairment. 

'At risk of being pretentious, it's like if you gave an artist three colours instead of nine and said [do a rainbow].' 

Even his speech at last year's SAG Awards for A Complete Unknown, was made with his role in Marty Supreme in mind. 

During his speech, Timothee expressed his strong ambition and drive, telling his peers: 'I know we're in a subjective business, but the truth is, I'm really in pursuit of greatness.'  

Graham Norton asked him about his choice of wording when the actor appeared on his talk show, saying: 'Marty Supreme this character has this kind of singular vision and self belief.

'Then I heard you when you were picking up your SAG Award in your speech you said you are in a pursuit of greatness, are you tapping into Marty Supreme's vision?'

Timothee admitted he was still in the 'Marty Mauser mindset' at the time as the awards ceremony took place two months after filming wrapped. 

He explained: 'It's just sometimes your in the energy and tone of the character.'

He went on to joke: 'But that's an ephemeral pursuit I am living in absolute humility sitting next to Dame Emma Thompson, the legendary Rowan Atkinson and Edward Enniful, thank you for the British Vogue cover my brother.' 

Timothee also adopted method dressing during the Marty Supreme press tour, attending all press events in tracksuit tops to embody his character.  

It was a technique he picked up the previous year on the promo trail for the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown.

At the New York premiere for the film, Timothee sported a blond wig, beanie and gingham scarf, the exact same look Bob Dylan wore at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. 

His co-stars in the project, Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton also discussed Timothee's method acting as they revealed just how hard the star worked to perfect his portrayal as the legendary folk artist.

'He was relentless,' said Fight Club actor Edward, 56. No visitors, no friends, no reps, no nothing. "Nobody comes around us while we're doing this."

'We're trying to do the best we can with something that's so totemic and sacrosanct to many people,' Edward added to Rolling Stone.

'And I agreed totally — it was like, we cannot have a f***ing audience for this. 

'We've got to believe to the greatest degree we can. And he was right to be that protective.'

Sharing her experience, Monica, 35, said that she was still able to interact with Timothée in between filming but he did remain 'in his own world.'

'It wasn't so full-on,' the Joan Baez star said. 'It wasn't "Don't look him in the eye" or anything like that. We said "hi," gave each other a hug. I was like, "I just saw Dune!"

'[But Timothée did stay] in his own world [on set] in a way that I think Bob often was as well. And it was actually really conducive to the dynamic between Bob and Joan.'