Robert Pattinson has developed a knack for hiding in plain sight.
Not on red carpets or press tours, but inside films themselves, smuggling his presence into places you’d never think to look.
His latest trick is a cameo so low-stakes and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it that even the most eagle-eyed fan would struggle to spot it.
Somewhere inside Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie’s latest cinematic pressure cooker, Pattinson is there, but only as a voice.
During a British Open semifinals scene, as Marty (Timothée Chalamet) faces off against Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig), the ping-pong announcer narrating the match is Pattinson himself.
Safdie revealed the detail casually during a conversation at BFI Southbank in London.
Pattinson had come by the set, watched some footage, and when Safdie needed a British-sounding voice for the umpire, the solution was right there.
‘It’s like a little Easter egg,’ Safdie told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘He came and watched some stuff , and I was like, “I don’t know any British people.” So he’s the umpire.’
Safdie has a history of using high-profile actors in ways that feel almost defiantly unglamorous.
In Uncut Gems, for example, Tilda Swinton appeared only as a voice on the other end of a phone call.
Pattinson and Safdie, of course, have history.
Their relationship was forged during the filming of Good Time, the 2017 Safdie brothers film that helped cement Pattinson’s post-Twilight reinvention.
As for Pattinson’s cameo in Marty Supreme, it’s just another reason it’s a fan favourite and a major awards contender this year.
Depicting several months in the life of aspiring ping-pong champion Marty Mauser – based loosely on US player Marty Reisman – the film is not at all a standard sports biopic.
Timothée Chalamet plays Marty and will almost certainly be Oscar-nominated for the role after his Golden Globe win for best actor last week.
In his acceptance speech at the Globes, he shared: ‘If you would have told me when I was 19 years old, I’d be thanking Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank…All right, you’re laughing, so I got away with that. Thank you, Kevin [O’Leary].
‘I would have been stunned, but I’ve been very grateful. My dad instilled in me a spirit of gratitude growing up — always be grateful for what you have. It’s allowed me to leave this ceremony in the past empty-handed, my head held high, grateful just to be here.’
In a nod to his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, he concluded: ‘I’d be lying if I didn’t say those moments didn’t make this moment that much sweeter. For my parents, for my partner, I love you.’
As for what Pattinson’s up to beyond last-minute voice cameos, he recently caused a stir alongside Zendaya when the Euphoria star, 29, shared an Instagram photo of herself in the lap of the Batman star, showing off a flashy engagement ring.
The text over the photo reads: ‘You are cordially invited to The Drama, written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli. Save the date, April 3,’ with the caption joking that a ‘formal invitation [is] to follow’.
However, for fans who didn’t look closely, the understated first look at the newly announced A24 movie seemed a lot like the real-life actors were announcing an engagement.
The free publicity for the film certainly got people talking, and it was soon revealed the stars’ characters are Emma Harwood and Charlie Thompson.
Emma is the daughter of a decorated military veteran, a 2017 honors graduate of Boston University, where she earned a B.A. in English, and works at a fictional bookstore called Mission Books. Meanwhile, Charlie, formerly of Eaton College, has an Art History PHD and is director of the fictional Cambridge Art Museum.
The trailer opens on the nearly-wed couple at a photography studio talking about their impending special day.
‘What’s your favourite thing about Emma?’ the photographer asks, to which Charlie replies: ‘She’s beautiful, funny, and she has the best laugh’ while Emma says he’s ‘caring, understanding, open-minded’.
As we flash through snapshots of their happy relationship, however, things seem to take a darker turn.
For the most part, the film is being kept under wraps, with a simple synopsis reading: ‘Days before their wedding, a couple’s relationship is shaken when one partner discovers unsettling truths about the other.’
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