Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary isn’t used to taking orders, yet as an actor for the new movie Marty Supreme, the prolific investor had no other choice.
Yet, on the set of Marty Supreme, where he played ruthless millionaire businessman Milton Rockwell opposite Timothée Chalamet’s character Marty Mauser, O’Leary learned that just because he calls the shots in every other aspect of his life, doesn’t mean he was holding the reins on set.
(Minor to major spoilers follow for Marty Supreme.)
Yet, although O’Leary was not in control on set, Safdie and co-writer Ronald Bronstein were happy to include his notes for a character that echoed some of his own personality. One of the most prominent was a monologue delivered by Rockwell to Mauser in which he claimed to be a “vampire” born in 1601.
O’Leary also contributed to Rockwell’s look, and leveraged his knowledge as a horophile when choosing the two watches his character wore on each wrist, one set for New York and the other for Tokyo time.
O’Leary refused to wear a prop watch or to wear a watch he didn’t own. Instead, he went on a global hunt for era-appropriate pieces to wear in the film.
Maybe one of O’Leary’s most memorable scenes was when he literally smacked the Oscar-nominated Chalamet on his bare butt with a real ping pong paddle in order to bring more authenticity to a pivotal scene that he said required 40 takes and took until 4 a.m. to finish.
To be sure, one of his biggest qualms with the film was the ending, which wraps up poorly for his character, and which he called “absurd,” according to Variety.
“I had lots of fights with Ronnie [Bronstein]— well, not fights, but I said, ‘Guys, this Marty Supreme guy, I would never let anybody [expletive] me over like this. This would never happen to me, ever. And he is not paying an adequate price,’” O’Leary told the New York Times.
Yet, not all of the Shark Tank judge’s suggestions were incorporated into the final cut. Apparently, the investor and rookie actor suggested changes for the film’s ending, including that Chalamet’s character’s love interest, Rachel Mizler (played by Odessa A’zion) should die in childbirth in order to add more suffering to an otherwise “kumbaya” ending. In the end, Safdie considered the change but didn’t incorporate it as he thought it was too “sick,” according to Variety.
O’Leary was scouted by director Josh Safdie for the part of Rockwell in Marty Supreme partly because of his reputation on Shark Tank. In fact, according to O’Leary, Safdie sought him out for the role of Rockwell for the same reason television producer Mark Burnett liked him for Shark Tank, “We’re looking for a real asshole,” Safdie reportedly told O’Leary.
Safdie, who previously co-directed A24’s Uncut Gems, accepted a flight on a private jet to O’Leary’s lake house in Muskoka, Canada, to hear him read for the part. As O’Leary admittedly explores other acting opportunities (although he is reportedly waiting for the promotional cycle to end before taking another role) he said he is happy to play the antagonist—and would ideally love to play a bond villain.
