Kevin O'Leary on Spanking Timothée Chalamet: 'He Didn't Want a Stunt Double, It Was His Own Ass'

"No fake ass here." That was Timothée Chalamet’s declaration on the set of 'Marty Supreme' before a scene required him to be spanked with a ping pong paddle. Kevin O'Leary, the 'Shark Tank' star who plays his tormentor, tells Entertainment Weekly that Chalamet insisted on forgoing a stunt double for the painful scene, offering up his own backside for the sake of realism.

A Humiliating Price for a Private Jet

In Josh Safdie's new sports drama 'Marty Supreme,' Chalamet plays ping pong prodigy Marty Mauser. Desperate to get to a major competition in Tokyo, Mauser begs tycoon Milton Rockwell (O'Leary) for a ride on his private jet. The problem? Rockwell despises him for sleeping with his wife (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) and insulting his late son. When Mauser crashes a party at Rockwell's home, the magnate seizes the chance to humiliate him, demanding he pull down his pants for a public spanking with a paddle in front of his wealthy friends.

3:45 a.m. on Set: 'It's Gonna Be My Ass'

O'Leary recalled that the scene was shot at about 3:45 in the morning. The original plan involved a "stunt ass" and a prop paddle with a hinge to soften the blow. However, director Josh Safdie wanted a more "kinetic swing" for the camera.

That's when Chalamet stepped in. "He came out and said, 'No, there's no fake ass here. It's gonna be my ass,'" O'Leary explained. Despite O'Leary's concerns about causing real welts over multiple takes, Chalamet was firm, saying, "I don't give a s---. Let's do it." Safdie then instructed O'Leary to hit him with "all of your might." The result was intense. "His ass had the imprint of that paddle," O'Leary recounted, adding that they had broken all the prop paddles and had to use a real one. By the end, the paddle's brand was literally "imprinted on it."

The Mogul's Motivation

O'Leary, making his big-screen debut, also had input on his character, giving notes on the script to make Rockwell behave more like he would. "I would never let, in real life, a guy like Marty f--- me that way," he said, explaining his deep connection with the character. "It bothered me that my character would let that happen." This dedication from both actors shows how the intense on-screen moment was fueled by a shared commitment to authenticity.