How Timothée Chalamet intentionally ruined his vision for his role in ‘Marty Supreme’

When actors talk about “getting into character,” they usually mean months of dialect coaching, physical training or immersing themselves in the world of the person they’re portraying. 

But for Timothée Chalamet, preparing for his role in the Oscar-nominated film “Marty Supreme” required something far more unusual: intentionally making his eyesight worse.

To pull it off, the actor turned to renowned optometrist Dr. Mitchell Cassel, who temporarily blurred Chalamet’s vision so he could authentically experience what it’s like to rely on thick glasses — just like the real-life table tennis legend Marty Reisman, the late American champion nicknamed “The Needle.”

“Timothée doesn’t need glasses, but Marty did. Timothée wanted his performance to be anchored by authenticity,” Cassel tells Page Six in an exclusive interview.

“To truly embody Marty, he needed very realistic-looking glasses, with a certain thickness and myopic or narrow-looking eyes,” he continues. “Timothée wanted the glasses to feel earned rather than costume. The goal was to not only deliver thick lenses but to create the experience of needing them.”

Reisman’s distinctive thick glasses were a recognizable part of his persona, and 30-year-old Chalamet wanted the relationship between his character and those lenses to feel natural rather than performative.

Cassel began the process the same way he would with any patient: by carefully assessing the actor’s eye health and vision.

“I started with a comprehensive eye exam to assess his baseline eye health, confirm his visual acuity and determine his corneal measurements,” Cassel says. “From there, I fit him in contact lenses to blur him out. We used daily disposables for ultimate safety. In contacts, his vision was bad, giving glasses a real reason to exist and creating the exact optical effect his character had.”

Without the glasses, Chalamet’s vision was deliberately compromised. But with them on, his eyesight returned to normal — the result of a carefully calibrated optical balance.

“The key was creating a very controlled optical balance. I first used contact lenses to introduce a specific level of blur, essentially simulating Marty’s baseline reality,” Cassel explains. “From there, I designed the eyeglass prescription to precisely counteract that blur. When the two worked together, his vision returned to normal, but the glasses themselves had the thickness and visual characteristics you would expect from someone with genuinely poor eyesight.”

Safety and ethics were central considerations before agreeing to the unusual request. Cassel says the actor’s vision was altered only in a reversible and highly controlled way.

“Safety is always the most important concern,” he emphasizes. “His vision was altered in a highly controlled and reversible way. We ensured maximum comfort with the fit and make of his lenses and eye health with a thorough exam. Timothée was made aware of the visual challenges he would encounter if he did not wear the prescription glasses to counter the effect of the contact lenses.”

The altered vision also had an unexpected benefit for Chalamet’s performance: it subtly changed his physical behavior in ways that can be difficult to replicate when glasses are merely a prop.

“Vision changes behavior,” Cassel points out. “People dependent on glasses may adjust frame positioning, tilt their head, look through a certain part of the lens, engage in protective measures, etc. Actors often wear glasses as a prop, but if they don’t actually need them, their body language gives it away.”

He says that, ultimately, Chalamet “needed” the eyeware so that “small behaviors you see in people who actually wear glasses started to appear organically — how he looked through the lenses, how he adjusted them, how he focused on objects or people.”

That level of authenticity “was very important to him,” Cassel elaborates, noting that Chalamet — who is currently dating Kylie Jenner — “wanted the character’s relationship with the glasses to feel real.”

Despite working with intentionally compromised eyesight, Cassel says the star adapted quickly during rehearsals and filming. A contact lens technician was also present on set to ensure everything remained safe and comfortable.

“Timothée adapted quickly and I had a contact lens technician present on set to ensure comfort and safety,” Cassel shares. “Timothee’s professionalism and commitment to his craft combined with the on-set support made it a seamless experience.”

For Cassel, the request was unusual but not outside the scope of his work. One of the leading prosthetic contact lens specialists in the eye care profession, he has spent more than three decades creating specialized visual effects for film and television, contributing to more than 1,000 productions.

Over the years he has designed everything from blindness simulations to bloodshot or diseased eyes, always with an emphasis on protecting the actor’s comfort and eye health. His credits include creating bloody eye effects for Tom Cruise in “Days of Thunder” and a “blind effect” for Robert De Niro in “Red Lights.”

“I am often on set to ensure comfort and safety,” he tells us. “If that’s not possible, I send a trained technician. When I was on set with Tom Cruise for ‘Days of Thunder,’ the actor playing the doctor missed his call time. I told Tom I could play the part, so you could say I took care of his eyes on and off camera. I still love the crew jacket they gave me.”

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Cassel’s expertise extends far beyond Hollywood. A graduate of Lehigh University and the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, he has lectured extensively on prosthetic lenses and consulted for major contact lens companies, including Johnson & Johnson’s Vistakon, Wesley Jessen, Ciba and Coopervision.

Much of his work involves designing custom prosthetic contact lenses for patients with congenital eye conditions or traumatic injuries — a part of his career he says is especially meaningful.

“Those lenses are designed to restore a natural appearance and, in many cases, give someone their confidence back,” Cassel says. “Helping someone feel whole again psychologically can be truly life-changing.”

Looking back on the collaboration with Chalamet, Cassel believes the experience reflects how far actors are willing to go in pursuit of a great performance.

“Actors at his level understand that authenticity lives in small physical details,” he says. “And vision is one of the most powerful.”