Latest news with #Safdie


The Hindu
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Marty Supreme' trailer: Timothee Chalamet stars as 1950s ping pong prodigy in Josh Safdie's return to the director's chair
A24 has released the first trailer for Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie's 1950s-set sports dramedy starring Timothée Chalamet as a table tennis player chasing respect and recognition. The film marks Safdie's first directorial effort since co-helming Uncut Gems with his brother Benny, and his first solo feature in more than a decade. Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, a gifted but underestimated ping pong player whose ambitions take him on a turbulent journey toward greatness. Along the way, he begins an affair with a glamorous movie star, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, while navigating the personal and professional challenges of life on the road. The ensemble cast includes Fran Drescher as Marty's mother, rapper Tyler, the Creator, magician Penn Jillette, Odessa A'zion, Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary, and filmmaker Abel Ferrara. Co-written by Safdie and longtime collaborator Ronald Bronstein, Marty Supreme is a fictionalised retelling inspired by the life of Marty Reisman, a five-time World Table Tennis Championships bronze medalist who became a showman for the sport. Chalamet reportedly underwent extensive training to capture the physicality and technique of a professional player. Cinematographer Darius Khondji noted earlier this year that the actor 'wanted to be like a real [professional] ping pong player when he started shooting.' The film is produced by Safdie, Bronstein, Eli Bush, Anthony Katagas, Chalamet, and A24. Chalamet, who has previously praised the Safdie brothers' 'raw and untethered' approach to filmmaking, now takes center stage in one of the year's most anticipated releases. Marty Supreme is set to open in theaters on December 25, positioning itself as both a holiday release and a potential awards contender.


Mint
12-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Timothee Chalamet stars in Josh Safdie's 'Marty Supreme'. First poster out, trailer drops on THIS date
The first poster for 'Marty Supreme', starring Timothée Chalamet, has finally been revealed. Directed by Josh Safdie and produced by A24, the film has remained a mystery—until now. The poster, which dropped earlier today, offers a first glimpse of Chalamet as Marty Mauser, a role that already has fans talking. A full trailer is expected tomorrow, promising more clues about the story behind this unique film. 'Marty Supreme' is described as a sports adventure comedy-drama, and marks Safdie's return to directing after his work on 'Uncut Gems'. Safdie co-wrote the script with longtime collaborator Ronald Bronstein. Chalamet, who also co-produces the film, leads an unusual and exciting cast including Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler, the Creator, Fran Drescher, and even Kevin O'Leary of Shark Tank fame. Drescher plays Mrs Mauser, Marty's mother, while other cast members include Sandra Bernhard, Odessa A'zion, magician Penn Jillette, and French high-wire artist Philippe Petit. Though plot details remain under wraps, the mix of comedy, sport, and adventure suggests something bold and offbeat. The poster itself hints at a loud, stylish tone—very much in line with Safdie's energetic filmmaking style. Marty Supreme is set to hit cinemas in the United States and Canada on Christmas Day 2025. UK release details have not yet been confirmed. With Chalamet in the lead and a truly eclectic supporting cast, Marty Supreme could be one of next year's most talked-about films. For now, fans will be counting down to tomorrow's trailer—and looking closely for any hints about Marty's strange, star-studded world.


New York Post
22-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Marina Bay Sands is getting an $8B expansion
Singapore's eye-catching Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort is undergoing an $8 billion expansion. A trip to Singapore isn't complete without taking a look at Marina Bay Sands. The massive resort, made up of three 650-foot-tall skyscrapers and connected by a boat-like skybridge, is a symbol of the city-state's modernism and prosperity. Such a pricey expansion to such a national icon is, predictably, a hot-button topic. Marina Bay Sands is set to receive a fourth tower, plus a 15,000-seat arena. The makeover broke ground this month under the looming specter of public scrutiny. 6 When it opened in 2011, Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort radically redefined the Singaporean skyline. AFP via Getty Images 6 A rendering of the planned fourth tower and adjoining event venue. Safdie Architects The resort's original architect, Moshe Safdie, designed the new tower. 'The (Urban Redevelopment) Authority repeatedly said, 'This is our icon; our people of Singapore love this, and we cannot do anything that's going to compromise it,' Safdie told CNN. The 87-year-old Israeli architect told the outlet that his goal was to design an edifice that was complimentary to the originals, while bearing its own identity. The current iteration of Marina Bay Sands, owned by the US casino and resort company Las Vegas Sands, attracted 38 million visitors and the equivalent of $1.7 billion in business spending last year, according to CNN. Safdie, whose firm is headquartered in Massachusetts, said connecting the fourth tower to the other three was hardly considered. Instead, the 55-story extension will be set apart on an adjacent plot. He described the new tower as the dot of an exclamation point. 6 The fourth tower's boat-like 'Skyloop.' Safdie Architects 6 The adjoining event venue will host a massive arena, and 200,000 square feet of conference and exhibition space. Safdie Architects 'The buildings look related,' Safdie told the outlet. 'They're in the same family.' The new tower will comprise of 570 suites, as well as luxury retail and gaming facilities. The facade, twisting at a 45-degree angle, tops off with a 76,000-square-foot 'Skyloop,' featuring the resort's famous infinity-edge pools, an observatory, restaurants and lush rooftop gardens. The fourth tower will share the original resort's panoramic views of the Marina Bay and Singapore Strait. A massive event venue, designed by the team behind the Las Vegas Sphere, will sit neatly in between the two structures. The building will span approximately 200,000 square feet of conference and exhibition space, with a 15,000-seat sports and entertainment arena at its core. The new development aims to capture more tourism revenue from so-called 'Mice' travelers, according to CNBC, who flock to the city for meetings and conferences, as well as leisure travelers trekking through Asia. 6 Local reactions to the recently announced plans range from disgust to excitement. AFP via Getty Images 6 The three-pronged resort is known for its highly Instagrammable rooftop pool. Best View Stock – Online commenters reacted strongly to the development's recent groundbreaking, with some Redditors comparing the fourth tower design to a lurking neighbor of a 'huge dehumidifier.' Safdie told CNN that all the new development needs is time, saying that, before long, 'people will feel it's always been there.'
Business Times
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Times
How architect Moshe Safdie's new Marina Bay masterpiece will redefine Singapore's skyline
[SINGAPORE] Fifteen years ago, when the glitzy Marina Bay Sands (MBS) with its avant-garde architecture opened for business, its architect, Moshe Safdie, wondered if the integrated resort would become an icon in Singapore. Well, we know the answer to that one. Since then, the development's three sloping hotel towers – topped off with a surfboard-like SkyPark carrying its now-famous infinity pool – have been frequently featured in popular culture, from movies and TV shows to music videos, documentaries and even video games. 'I'm amused by the fact that if I want to explain what Marina Bay Sands is to somebody, I just ask, 'Did you see the movie Crazy Rich Asians?' and that takes care of it,' Safdie tells The Business Times in an exclusive interview. MBS is today not only an instantly recognisable symbol of Singapore, but also a glittering architectural marvel the world over. 'We had no clue whether it would be iconic,' says Safdie. 'It's a kind of magic you don't control.' A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up Perhaps, but it certainly helps when the architect is one as visionary as he is. At just 26, he established his own firm to realise the innovative Habitat 67 for the 1967 World Exposition in Montreal, Canada. The project was an adaptation of his thesis at McGill University for a revolutionary, three-dimensional modular urban housing system. MBS with the new, yet-unnamed US$8 billion development on its right. ILLUSTRATION: SAFDIE ARCHITECTS In town for the official groundbreaking ceremony for IR2 – as the new, yet-unnamed US$8 billion development next to MBS is currently called – Safdie has said MBS changed lives at his eponymous firm in terms of the work they received. Among other projects, he went on to design another Singapore landmark, Jewel Changi Airport – with the world's tallest indoor waterfall within, surrounded by a lush, multi-level garden – adding one more Instagram favourite that's synonymous with the city. One could say Singapore struck gold with Safdie, who has helmed such large-scale projects that cemented the city's image as modern, innovative, vibrant and yes – green. After all, who else could have dreamt up these things? Given the successes Safdie has had, expectations are naturally high that with him fronting IR2's architecture, Singapore can add yet another stunning landmark to its skyline. Get ready for this new waterfront composition with the addition of an ultra-luxury development to the right of MBS' three towers. ILLUSTRATION: SAFDIE ARCHITECTS He's excited too. 'People will get used to the new composition, and it'll become part of the so-called iconic view from across the water,' Safdie predicts. Of rooftops and stealing the thunder While MBS' design took just four months of conceptualisation ('we were under enormous pressure'), IR2 is running at eight years just to get to a schematic. This is due in part to the pandemic, but also because of technical constraints from the tight site (3 hectares versus MBS' 15.5 hectares), the logistical puzzle of how to move people in and out of the area, as well as the connecting networks under and overground that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) wants. 'One thing you can say about designing in Singapore,' Safdie says wryly, 'the whole system insists that you think about the next step – growth and expansion – which is somewhat different from our experience in some other places.' The architectural challenge? MBS as a building that's already a beloved icon and the danger of compromising it with a new structure. 'So (IR2) has to be substantial in its own right and have an identity that complements and, in a sense, improves on the existing icon.' There's 'a gallery' of IR2 models in Safdie's office, and the team lived with the original plan of the new, 55-storey, 570-suite luxury hotel tower abutting MBS' Tower 1 'pretty comfortably for a couple of years'. The final schematic flipped the location of the arena with that of the new tower, so the latter is no longer right next to MBS' three towers. ILLUSTRATION: MARINA BAY SANDS Then, just as they were coming close to the decision to build, the team felt uneasy about the juxtaposition of the two developments being so close. They proposed flipping the location of the tower with that of the low-rise 15,000-seat arena to its current position, solving the problems of access that they thought were insurmountable. This, Safdie says, was 'very well-received by the URA, who also had concerns'. Now, the arena acts as a spacer between the three towers and the new one. Voila, all the stakeholders are happy. Funnily, once the new development was announced, the first question people asked him was whether IR2's roof will be connected to the SkyPark. 'I said 'no', we didn't think that would be appropriate. The roof of the new tower should be an experience in itself.' Because it isn't as long as the linear SkyPark, Safdie conceived a completely new design to 'make it almost as long'. The 76,000-square-foot (sq ft) Skyloop will be a multi-level rooftop experience made of two boomerang-shaped structures placed atop each other, one facing the city, and the other, the Singapore Straits, with another layer in between. Skyloop will be a multi-level rooftop experience made of two boomerang-shaped structures placed atop each other, but facing opposite directions. ILLUSTRATION: SAFDIE ARCHITECTS The Skyloop, almost three stories higher than the SkyPark, will be 'quite a sensational experience' and 'kind of science fiction', says Safdie. 'What you get are very dramatic views from the SkyPark to the Skyloop and vice versa.' The lower layer of the Skyloop will offer public access, including restaurants, an observatory and over 300 feet of a Skywalk. ILLUSTRATION: SAFDIE ARCHITECTS The lower layer of the Skyloop will offer public access, including restaurants, an observatory, over 300 feet of a Skywalk and a small section with 'the traditional glass floors to get a little vertigo', he jests. On the upper layer, there will be a cantilevered wellness terrace, private cabanas and infinity pools for hotel guests. The upper layer of the Skyloop will feature a cantilevered wellness terrace, private cabanas and infinity pools for hotel guests. ILLUSTRATION: SAFDIE ARCHITECTS 'In terms of building composition, you get the linear first phase of (MBS') towers three, two, one, and then you get an exclamation mark… boom!' When IR2, which includes 200,000 sq ft of meeting space, is completed in 2030, the SkyPark would be two decades old. But it won't just sit idly by while Skyloop steals its thunder. An overhaul is in the works, reveals Safdie, with plans to restructure elements such as the lounging areas, bars and plantings, while adding a new restaurant and rebuilding to 'accommodate a more ambitious programme'. Of garden cities and liveable buildings It was Safdie's birthday on the day of BT's interview. At 87, the great-grandfather may move less quickly than before, but his mind is clearly still as sharp. A citizen of Israel, Canada and the United States, Safdie is known for his humanistic approach to architecture and urban planning. His oeuvre includes projects ranging from cultural, educational and civic institutions to neighborhoods, public parks, housing, mixed-use urban centres and airports around the world. Having first visited Singapore in 1975, and coming and going since, Safdie feels he's been a part of the nation's 60-year history. Safdie turned 87 on July 14. PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN, BT 'I think it's one of the most impressive stories of a city developing and growing; an urbanistic story,' he says. 'The combination of all the planning and attention to landscape which started from (modern Singapore's founding father) Lee Kuan Yew, has produced an extraordinary outcome. I think the emphasis on planting the city, making it green, is one of the most inspiring decisions made right at the beginning of the state.' That said, architecture in the last decades has leapt in terms of the emergence of 'many sculptural, visually very exciting buildings that are not that livable'. 'At the same time, we're dealing with density in a way that we never had and an environment that's in great danger, with global warming being one. All of that needs to be achieved within a very livable, humanistic environment.' So the challenge Singapore now faces lies in dealing with density and towers as the dominant building type in the city, while keeping it humane. 'This is the next phase as the building codes already encourage the creation of public spaces, gardens and parks at different levels to make the city more livable and achieve a better balance between greenery and construction,' Safdie notes. 'There are many new areas opening up for development here and I hope there'll be a lot of the architectural innovations that we see, some of them downtown, towards that objective.' Of big projects and an unfulfilled architectural dream Home for Safdie is Cambridge, Massachusetts, although he still sticks to a punishing schedule that sees him travelling almost every week. Some of the projects his firm is currently working on include a large addition to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, a museum for the Cherokee people in Oklahoma, the Canadian embassy in Senegal and two medical schools in Israel. In a storied career spanning over six decades, which are the projects most significant to him personally? 'Certainly, Habitat 67, my firstborn, is the most radical thing I've ever done,' he says. 'I'd say my first museum, the National Gallery of Canada, which is now 37 years old, was a very important milestone. The Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, was maybe the most emotionally challenging. 'The United States Institute of Peace headquarters, which President (Donald) Trump just shut down – I hope the building survives – was very important in terms of a symbol of peace.' Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada. PHOTO: UNSPLASH But if there is one project he would love to work on, that would be to realise the original Habitat 67, which was digitised into virtual reality by Epic Games in 2023. His vision was to create 1,200 prefabricated dwellings arranged in Lego-like stacks, rather than the scaled-down 158 units that were eventually built. The modular units and their sculptural placement allow natural light and enhanced views and are connected to gardens, suspended terraces and pedestrian walkways. Seeing it in its original form is important to Safdie because it embodies the urban idea of a three-dimensional city in which different activities are reorganised to make dense, high-rise housing more livable – a concept which is yet to be realised or understood, he says. 'I'd say if we could build that today, it would look as fresh and meaningful and significant as it did 60 years ago.'
Business Times
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Times
Moshe Safdie
THINK Marina Bay Sands (MBS), think Moshe Safdie. The man who designed Singapore's iconic landmark is himself an icon in the world of architecture. Now, he's lending his name to MBS Part 2, or rather IR2 – the as-yet-unnamed US$8 billion development being built next to the integrated resort. The stakes are high for the 55-storey, 570-suite luxury hotel tower. The building has to be 'substantial in its own right and have an identity that complements and, in a sense, improves on the existing icon', says the celebrated architect who was in town for the groundbreaking ceremony. Read what Safdie has to say about the impact that MBS has made on the Singapore skyline, and on his career, in an exclusive interview with BT Lifestyle this week. We also head across to Singapore's other integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa, where another groundbreaking attraction is about to open. We give you a sneak peek of the Singapore Oceanarium – in which the former SEA Aquarium has been completely transformed into a mega marine institute that's three times the size of the original and devoted to the conservation of sea life. Dive into a world of sharks, sea horses and sea jellies in vivid colour, in our pictorial essay of these enchanting sea creatures. Finally in Dining, French cooking goes casual at The Plump Frenchman, a new bistro that serves up affordable classics in cosy surroundings. For all this and more, don't miss this week's BT Lifestyle.