A24 Turns Timothée Chalamet’s Awkward Zoom Meltdown Into Viral Marketing

A24 kicked off its Marty Supreme push by turning a painfully awkward Zoom meeting into a viral hit. 

The campaign centers on a "leaked” video titled "Timothee_Chalamet_internal_brand_marketing_meeting_MartySupreme_11.08.2025.mp4."

Here, they show Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet pitching unhinged ideas to a group of polite staffers pretending to be the film’s internal team.

The video uses the actor’s willingness to laugh at himself, something audiences rarely get to see outside of celebrity press tours.

Here, he leans fully into the caricature of a star losing his grip on reality, which helps the bit land cleanly and keeps attention on the film.

And that kind of attention and buzz matters right now, especially in light of how tough the landscape has become for sports dramas.

Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson's A24 film The Smashing Machine, for instance, opened with $20.1 million at the box office, which accounts for just about half of the budget it took to make it. 

Even so, the studio seems confident that a mix of humor, oddball energy, and Chalamet’s star power will give Marty Supreme a fighting chance.

The Method Behind Chalamet’s Marketing Meltdown

The clip opens with Chalamet nodding blankly as each person introduces themselves, then surges into a messy brainstorm of big swings and bizarre logic that feels familiar to anyone who has sat through a chaotic creative review.

Viewers see Chalamet suggesting that the orange brand color should be “hardcore” and “corroded,” holding up a simple square as proof that a visual artist worked on it “for six months.”

“Schwap!” he shouts into his webcam to emphasize his ideas, pushing the team to pretend they are impressed.

Their strained smiles and tiny nods carry the joke, mirroring the real cringe of conference calls across agencies and studios.

One commenter on YouTube put it this way: “I’ve been in a lot of entertainment marketing meetings, they are exactly like this.”

The Zoom stunt escalates as Chalamet presents a crude drawing of a blimp he claims took months to create, proposes painting national landmarks orange, and ends with a 60-second meditation sequence that leaves his co-workers visibly uncomfortable.

That escalation mirrors internet comedy formulas, pushing tension past the point of reason until it becomes the only thing viewers can talk about.

It also fits A24’s long-running habit of using unusual formats to generate conversation.

The studio previously used a chatbot on Tinder to promote Ex Machina, blurring the lines between what's real and what's simply a marketing stunt.

Those past moves showed how the studio uses unexpected angles to stand out in a crowded film landscape.

How A24 Uses Chaos To Drive Attention

For marketers, A24 offers a lesson for turning awkward moments into high-impact brand engagement.

• Unusual stunts truly shine when the talent is self-aware and leans into the bit, similar to the bold risks seen in campaigns for brands like Old Spice.
• Using discomfort as comedy works best when the format mirrors real workplace dynamics that audiences instantly recognize and relate to. 
• Campaigns land harder when past brand experiments establish a pattern, echoing A24’s earlier efforts with Tinder bots and unexpected collabs.

The real test will be whether this digital chaos converts into actual ticket sales for a genre that needs momentum.

Our Take: Where Does This Go Next?

We’ve sat through enough draining calls to know this one cuts close to the bone.

What stands out to us is how A24 understood that the most relatable part of work life is the collective pain of pretending to a client or superior that a bad idea is good.

We love campaigns that aren’t afraid to mix credible real-life situations with comedy. When a brand exposes the awkward realities we all recognize, the humor hits harder and the storytelling feels more grounded.

It makes the joke funnier and the brand sharper.

If they keep playing in this space, they might prove that honesty, even exaggerated honesty, still wins attention in an industry addicted to polish.

In other news, Kinder Joy and Netflix's Stranger Things are in their own league for the upcoming season's promotion, launching a multi-platform fan experience worldwide.

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