Kevin O’Leary is waving his “asshole” flag proudly this Christmas, however not in the best way that you could be be accustomed to.
In what is likely to be probably the most WTF casting this 12 months, the Canadian businessman-turned-TV-host, wannabe political chief and Trump pal options prominently within the new movie Marty Supreme.
O’Leary could also be most acquainted for his stint as an investor on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, which he left in 2014, and the U.S. adaptation Shark Tank.
Whereas he payments himself as Mr. Fantastic, it is his blunt on-camera character that he is greatest recognized for. He is leaning into the a-hole label as he promotes the movie, joking to Vainness Honest that it is “beginning to work for me.”
However how on Earth did he even wind up within the Josh Safdie-directed film, alongside stars Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow?
That is what some movie critics — and O’Leary critics — have been questioning.
“I used to be fairly stoked for this film, however man Kevin O’Leary is simply such rubbish. Unsure if that is genius stunt casting, however seeing him made my frown go the other way up,” a Canadian Reddit consumer wrote on a thread titled, “Is anybody else bummed out about Kevin O’Leary being in Marty Supreme?”
WATCH | Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin O’Leary star in Marty Supreme:
We have to speak about Kevin
The 101 on O’Leary is that the 71-year-old was born in Montreal and made a reputation for himself within the enterprise world, co-founding the tech firm SoftKey (later referred to as The Studying Firm) in 1986 and promoting it to Mattel 13 years later in a transaction value as a lot as $4 billion.
He additionally began his personal funding agency and from the 2000s onward turned a fixture on tv as a bunch of enterprise exhibits, together with the CBC Information Community program The Lang & O’Leary Alternate, Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank, which airs on ABC within the U.S. and CTV in Canada.
O’Leary briefly campaigned to be chief of the Conservative Celebration of Canada in 2017.
He additionally made headlines for a 2019 boat crash in Ontario’s Muskoka Area that killed two individuals and led to his spouse, Linda O’Leary, being charged. She was discovered not responsible of careless operation of a vessel in 2021.
Kevin O’Leary (or “Mr. Fantastic”) is definitely probably the most controversial Dragon who’s ever graced the Den. He offers a no-holds-barred account of his time on Dragons’ Den.
How O’Leary reined Supreme
Marty Supreme tells the story of Marty Mauser (Chalamet), a Nineteen Fifties-era desk tennis participant satisfied of his future as a generational expertise.
O’Leary, in a supporting position, performs Milton Rockwell, a rich impresario who takes an curiosity in Chalamet’s Marty.
“In a world the place you’ll be able to rent any actor, selecting to solid Kevin O’Leary is as unserious as you may get,” Di Golding, a movie critic and CBC Radio columnist, informed CBC Ottawa’s All in a Day final week.
However Safdie stated he wanted somebody within the position who may “evoke the ruthless American dream.”
“It was one of many tougher elements to solid,” Safdie defined to CBC Radio’s Q. “[You need] somebody who can talk company colonialism, early globalism, ruthless businessman, chilly company greed. And I met with actors and so they weren’t proper.”
He informed visitor host Talia Schlanger that O’Leary “immediately made each line higher” after they did a read-through of the script.
20:40Josh Safdie on Marty Supreme and the loneliness of chasing success
Though Golding wasn’t a fan, different critics have seen O’Leary’s casting as Rockwell as a hit.
“All of O’Leary’s core traits are there: his political insensitivity, ruthless wheeling and dealing, and thirst for blood,” wrote The Minimize‘s Cat Zhang.
The movie itself is getting typically beneficial critiques — it has a 95 per cent recent score on Rotten Tomatoes — and it is in robust competition to get numerous nominations on the upcoming Academy Awards.
And, for those who’re questioning, studio A24 is selling O’Leary for Oscar consideration in the very best supporting actor class. To date, he has not been nominated for any of the important thing precursor awards and he’s not among the many top-tier contenders, in line with main business publications and oddsmakers.
CBC’s Jackson Weaver is a fortunate man — he will get to look at a whole bunch of films yearly. And now he’s ranked his prime 5 picks of 2025.
What makes Mr. Fantastic an actual …
O’Leary appears to need the world to know that Safdie and co-writer Ronald Bronstein have been on the lookout for a “actual asshole” after they solid him, one thing he has recounted in interviews with The Hollywood Reporter, TMZ and others.
“I’m not an asshole,” he defined to Vainness Honest. “I simply inform the reality, and a few individuals don’t prefer it. I believe perhaps I’m going to grow to be the honorary chairman of all assholes in all places after this. And it’s a job I’m blissful to take.”
In keeping with the Cambridge Dictionary, the phrase is a vulgar time period used to explain somebody thought-about “silly or disagreeable” — and that is how some individuals might imply it.
Different commenters on that aforementioned Reddit thread described him as “evil,” a “traitor” and even went as far as to say they will not see the film “particularly due to the casting.”
Up to now 12 months, specifically, he is been a divisive determine for Canadians.
O’Leary is chummy with Donald Trump. He is hung out on the U.S. president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, cheered for some MAGA insurance policies and confronted backlash for his takes on Trump’s repeated feedback about Canada changing into the 51st state.
O’Leary’s former Dragons’ Den colleague Arlene Dickinson wrote in a LinkedIn put up in March that his “complete model is bombastic theatrics — large pronouncements with few information, flashy takes and no matter retains the cameras rolling on him.”
However it’s not simply his enterprise fashion and political leanings that get some individuals’s backs up.
He additionally made controversial feedback earlier this 12 months about Jeffrey Epstein, saying “no person offers a poop” concerning the deceased intercourse offender who had connections to Trump, and including of Epstein’s intercourse trafficking victims: “Perhaps they have been raped, perhaps they weren’t.”
Even whereas selling the film, he raised some eyebrows by saying that A24 “may save tens of millions” by using AI-generated extras as an alternative of casting people in background roles in movies like Marty Supreme. He later stated his remarks have been taken out of context.
WATCH | How Kevin O’Leary believes Canada needs to be extra united with the U.S.:
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