The Alleged Truth About the Safdie Brothers’ Rift Is Darker Than You’d Think
After months of speculation, we might finally know what allegedly led directing duo Josh and Benny Safdie to part ways. The two brothers, who made a splash with their work on 2019’s Uncut Gems, have been in the spotlight separately for a while now.
Benny has landed a few high-profile acting gigs in Christopher Nolan films and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, as well as directing Dwayne Johnson in the recent biopic The Smashing Machine. Josh, meanwhile, just got nominated for the Best Director Oscar for his work on Marty Supreme. But what led to them falling out?
According to a new report from Page Six, the rift is allegedly due to an incident that occurred on the set of the brothers’ 2017 film Good Time. The report claims that a 17-year-old girl was cast to play a sex worker in one of the film’s scenes, which required her to be nude and to simulate having sex with a character played by Buddy Duress. The girl’s age would have already caused issues with the Screen Actors Guild, but actions made by Duress (whose real name is Michael Stathis, and who passed away due to a heroin overdose in the fall of 2023) allegedly made things even worse.
The situation is allegedly dark
Stathis allegedly “pulled down his pants, exposed himself and asked the girl if ‘he could stick it in’ as the cameras continued to roll.” He had been recently released from prison around the filming of Good Time, having been incarcerated on drug charges, weapons violations, fencing stolen property and motor vehicle theft multiple times. According to multiple sources cited in the report, Josh was operating as “the de facto commander on set” during this time, literally watching the scene on a monitor while Benny was holding the boom mic for the scene. Josh learned of the girl’s age shortly after the scene was filmed.
“Any director who had seen that should have yelled ‘Cut!’ and stopped the scene, but Josh let it continue,” a source cited in the report argues.
The scene was ultimately cut from Good Time. But it was used in footage used to sell the film at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. A separate report from Variety alleges that the actress, who is still listed in the film’s final credits, was only paid in cigarettes by one of the film’s producers, Sebastian Bear-McClard. In 2022, Bear-McClard threatened to go public with details about the film’s production. The story came out amid his divorce case with Emily Ratajkowski, a chain of events that apparetly led to Benny learning about the full story behind the incident. The Safdies cut ties with Bear-McClard afterwards. And by the time details were fully made public in early 2023. This included claims that Bear-McClard also had an affair with the young actress in question. Benny stopped working with his brother altogether.
It is unclear if and how this reporting could affect Josh’s run for Best Director, as well as Marty Supreme‘s overall performance during the Oscars. The film’s star, Timothee Chalamet, is currently seen as a frontrunner for the Best Actor trophy.
(featured image: Theo Wargo/WireImage)
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