The last couple of years haven’t been kind to the biggest brother duos in filmmaking, the Coens and the Safdies. Previously, we saw that both Coen brothers have gone on to split as a duo and direct their own feature films. (Though, there’s hope of a reunion soon enough.) As for the Safdies, we now have confirmation that Benny and Josh Safdie are going their separate ways in the near future, as it’s only the latter of which who is directing a forthcoming feature reteaming with Adam Sandler.
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In a new interview with GQ, Benny Safdie revealed that he is set to focus more on his acting right now, and thus, he isn’t involved in the directing of the untitled new film from Josh Safdie, which stars Adam Sandler and Megan Thee Stallion. (The news was originally reported by Above the Line.) The film is said to be about sports memorabilia and is one of the most anticipated releases of the next couple of years. And as mentioned, this has less to do with Benny’s lack of interest in the project, and it’s more because of his desire to pursue acting and to let Josh Safdie do his own thing. Regardless, Elara Pictures (the production company run by the Safdie brothers) is still involved.
“Elara is still there. We work on a lot of documentaries and there’s just a constant flow of ideas,” Safdie said. “It just felt like, OK, there’s things that I want to explore that don’t necessarily align right now with Josh. So it’s a divide and conquer mentality. He wants to tell this story, he can go and do that. I’m going to go and do a couple of other things. It seems like a natural progression for how things have happened.”
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He added, “It was just a matter of, ‘This works for me right now and this is what I’ve got to do.’”
And it’s not crazy to think that Benny Safdie could be a successful actor in his own right. Obviously, he broke out thanks to a role in “Good Time,” where he starred opposite Robert Pattinson, as well as serving as co-director. But since then, he’s landed a number of high-profile roles, including “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” and “Stars at Noon.” His biggest role to date is likely the upcoming “Oppenheimer,” which will probably put him in front of more people than ever before.
That said, this shouldn’t diminish excitement for the forthcoming film from Josh Safdie. In addition to Josh continuing on as director, with Sandler in front of the camera (just as he was in breakout hit, “Uncut Gems”), he’s also continuing work with the Safdies’ longtime writing partner, Ronald Bronstein, on the project. So, the untitled film should still retain a lot of that signature Safdie style.
The release date for the untitled Josh Safdie film is unknown. However, you can see Benny Safdie in “Oppenheimer” this Friday.
