Tyler, The Creator was juggling the Marty Supreme shoot and the rollout of his Grammy-nominated CHROMAKOPIA album simultaneously, ultimately getting joyfully lost in the creative process of the former.
During an hour-long conversation with Ebro Darden for Apple Music, released Wednesday (Dec. 17), Tyler and Marty Supreme director Josh Safdie both looked back on this particularly busy time with mutual admiration for how each was able to manage the controlled chaos of it all.
First, Tyler recalled being told by Safdie in 2017 that the Uncut Gems and Good Time filmmaker was planning to put him in something one day. This led to an in-office meeting with Safdie and star Timothée Chalamet in 2019, with production on the A24-backed Marty Supreme ultimately kicking off in late 2024. CHROMAKOPIA, up for Album of the Year at the 2026 Grammys, was released that October.
“It’s a scene where I’m in the car and I tell Timmy something. Not joking, it’s maybe 4:50 when we’re shooting that shot,” Tyler recalled. “Album just came out, been back and forth doing these shows [in] Atlanta, LA, blah blah blah. Come here, in this shit, acting. I ain’t got no sleep, nothing, but whatever. It ’s for the love of this fucking game. I’m so used to the warm weather back home that coming here and we shooting upstate and stuff, I got sick, like, from just the instant cold weather. So I’m whooped, bro. And I think my hotel had mold, like, not joking.”
Safdie said these moments were “special,” as he was working with someone who had just released “this epic album” that was topping the charts, later likening the experience to “having a director inside the scene” while he was shooting.
“I flew back a few times, so I think the third time I came back, it was still number one, like, third week,” Tyler added. “And none of that shit mattered. I was so excited to be on this set as the baby, as unexperienced, not knowing what I’m doing, at service and surrendering to this thing. … I love just jumping into new shit.”
Tyler went on to express his desire to “act so much more” in the future, with specific aims on one day playing a Lemony Snicket-like villain, and/or taking a part in a modern-day Paid in Full.
Marty Supreme is in theaters on Christmas Day. Coming soon from Complex is a conversation with casting director Jennifer Venditti, whose past credits include multiple films from the Safdie Brothers universe, not to mention Euphoria.
This Friday, Tyler is launching his own Marty Supreme collection via Golf Wang. Here’s everything you need to know.