The Safdie brothers’ rumoured feud allegedly first began after a disturbing incident on the set of their breakout film in 2017, according to a new report.
Josh and Benny Safdie were previously known for their work as a duo, making their names by writing and directing crime thriller films Good Time and Uncut Gems, with Josh now garnering Oscars-buzz for his latest movie, Marty Supreme.
However, in 2023 it was reported that the siblings would no longer be working together – with the pair said to no longer even be on speaking terms – sparking speculation as to what caused them to abruptly end their collaboration.
Page Six has now claimed that it was an incident on the set of Good Time which first drove a wedge between the brothers, citing multiple sources who allege they fell out during the filming of an underage sex scene.
According to the publication, Benny cut ties with Josh after a 17-year-old girl was cast to play a prostitute in a scene that required nudity and simulated sex with Buddy Duress.
Duress, real name Michael Stathis, was not an actor and had been recently released from prison with a criminal history of drug charges, theft and weapons violations.
The Safdie brothers’ feud allegedly first began after a disturbing incident on the set of their breakout film in 2017, according to a new report (Josh, left, and Benny Safdie pictured in 2020)
Josh and Benny Safdie were previously known for their work as a duo, making their names by writing and directing crime thriller films Good Time and Uncut Gems, with Josh now garnering Oscars-buzz for his latest movie, Marty Supreme (Josh and Timothee Chalamet in December)
Page Six has now claimed that it was an incident on the set of Good Time which first drove a wedge between the brothers, citing multiple sources who allege they fell out during the filming of an underage sex scene (Robert Pattinson pictured in Good Time)
Yet after meeting Josh through a mutual friend, Duress was cast in the role of Ray, a criminal recently released on parole.
During the shoot, Josh is said to have been monitoring on a screen, while Benny was controlling the boom mic.
Sources allege that Duress – who is said to have been on high on drugs at the time – exposed himself to the 17-year-old and made a sexual proposition to her while the cameras continued to roll.
‘Any director who had seen that should have yelled “Cut!” and stopped the scene, but Josh let it continue,’ an on-set source told Page Six.
The alleged incident would constitute a breach of the Screen Actors Guild rules, which states minors are supposed to be protected from harmful or exploitative work conditions.
Yet three sources claimed to the publication that Josh only learnt of the actress’s age after the scene had been filmed, when the ‘traumatised teenager spiraled’.
Josh declined to comment when approached by the outlet. The Daily Mail has approached representatives for both brothers for comment.
The scene was cut from the final version which went on to receive positive reviews from critics and even won an award at the Cannes Film Festival.
According to the publication, Benny cut ties with Josh after a 17-year-old girl was cast to play a prostitute in a scene that required nudity and simulated sex with Buddy Duress, with neither of the brothers claiming to know her real age at the time (Robert and Duress pictured in 2017)
Duress made his acting debut in Josh and Benny’s 2014 film Heaven Knows What — a role he landed shortly after being released from Rikers Island for a drug-related conviction (seen with co-star Arielle Holmes in the film)
Duress did not star in any further films and died in November 2023 at the age of 38 after a cardiac arrest sparked by a ‘drug cocktail’.
The journey to his short lived career in acting started after he was arrested for heroin possession and decided to join a drug rehab program as opposed to incarceration.
It was during this period that he was introduced to Josh who asked him if he wanted to play a part in his next movie.
This part went on to become a much larger role in 2014’s Heaven Knows What, with Duress telling the New York Post that the brothers warned him not to get arrested for fear it would ‘f*** up the movie’.
Duress told the outlet: ‘Josh said, “Buddy, please don’t get arrested. It will f*** up the movie.”
‘Everybody knew I would get arrested at some point, but I gave him my word that I would finish the movie.’
Just one day after he completed his work on Heaven Knows What, the authorities caught up with him, but he recalled being too happy to care.
He told the post: ‘I sat in jail saying “I did a movie!” If I went into the program, I probably would have got out, relapsed and done the same s*** all over again.
Duress did not star in any further films after Good Times and died in November 2023 at the age of 38 after a ‘cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail’ (pictured in 2017)
‘My wrong decision resulted in the most positive thing I’ve ever done.’
While the rest of the cast and crew enjoyed the red carpet when the movie premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2014, Duress remained in Rikers.
Yet the Safdie brothers stuck by Duress, who even recommend him to director Dustin Guy Defa, who cast him in his 2017 film Person To Person alongside Michael Cera.
That same year he appeared in the Safdie brothers’ movie Good Times alongside Robert Pattinson.
Duress’s misconduct in Good Times resurfaced when the Safdie brothers’ former producing partner Sebastian Bear-McClard became embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with Emily Ratajkowski, according to reports by Variety.
The publication revealed Sebastian had been romantically involved with the teenage Good Time actress after production wrapped, prior to his relationship with Emily, and that information was now being used in the actress’s battle for custody of their son.
It was then, in 2022, that Benny allegedly learned for the first time that the Good Time actress was a minor, sparking tension between the brothers.
According to Page Six sources, Josh blamed Bear-McClard for hiring her, but the latter disputed responsibility and said he wasn’t present during the incident.
The issue resurfaced in 2022, when the pair’s former producing partner Sebastian Bear-McClard became embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with Emily Ratajkowski (pictured in 2018)
The brothers continued to work together for their next film with Uncut Gems star Adam Sandler (pictured in 2019), however it was never released as the brothers cut ties
The publication revealed that the Safdie brothers later fully cut ties with Bear-McClard and dissolved their shared production company.
But things turned from bad to worse when the Variety report on Bear-McClard’s divorce filing from Ratajkowski surfaced and details from the Good Time incident were dragged up once again.
Page Six reported that the dispute drove a ‘wedge’ between Josh and Benny and Benny cut ties with his elder brother.
They quickly went their separate ways and the upcoming project they were working on with Adam Sandler was abruptly scrapped.
Since then the brothers are reportedly not even on speaking terms and any sort of reunion is very unlikely.
Declining to address rumours of a rift in an interview with Variety in 2024, Benny insisted their split was amicable.
He said: ‘It’s a natural progression of what we each want to explore. I will direct on my own, and I will explore things that I want to explore. I want that freedom right now in my life.’
Asked whether he would direct with Josh again, he shrugged and added: ‘I don’t know.’
Speaking to Empire in August, Benny once again played down any kind of feud as he explained: ‘We had started out making movies separately, in college and then we were always working towards something, and when we reached that place it was almost like, “Oh, well, what now?”‘
‘Then it was like, “I’m interested in this,” and “I’m interested in this,” and then you want to figure that out. It just felt like a continuation of a process.’
Benny previously said of the pair’s choice to no longer work together: ‘It’s a natural progression of what we each want to explore’ (pictured together in 2019)
Benny marked his first solo writing credit and directorial debut on the MMA themed film The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson (pictured) and Emily Blunt
After the pair went their separate ways, Josh went on to work on Marty Supreme, his first feature as a solo director.
The film has been a box office and critical hit and is up for nine Oscars in total at this year’s ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for leading man Timothee Chalamet.
Meanwhile Benny marked his first solo writing credit and directorial debut on the MMA themed film The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.
In comparison to Marty Supreme, the film received just one Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling Award at this year’s.
Similarly at the Golden Globes, Marty Supreme dominated over The Smashing Machine when Timothee won the award for Best Actor.
While Dwayne was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama and Emily was nominated for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, neither of them bagged the gong.
