Actor and Director Benny Safdie Does It All

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2023

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Throughout his fifteen-year moviemaking career, director and actor Benny Safdie has been drawn to naturalism and first-time performers. Fittingly, his recent collaboration with comedian Nathan Fielder (“Nathan for You”) was a perfect match.

Benny joins us today to discuss their satirical black comedy series The Curse (9:10), the timely premise that inspired the show (13:35), and Safdie’s history of capturing real-life personalities on film (15:58). Then, he describes his early connection to the 1979 movie Kramer v Kramer (19:00), a New York encounter with photographer Robert Frank (23:18), and how directors Robert Bresson and Frederick Wiseman opened his eyes to the possibilities of street casting (26:05).

On the back-half, we dive into Benny’s co-directing work alongside his brother, Josh Safdie (29:55), a heartbreaking scene from their debut feature Daddy Longlegs (34:30), and the projects that followed: Good Time (40:00), Lenny Cooke (42:45), and Uncut Gems (55:00). To close, Safdie talks about why he worked as a boom operator while directing (48:15), his recent pivot to acting (52:35), and his full circle moment of playing an astrophysicist in Oppenheimer (1:00:40).

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm San Frig, director, and actor Benny Safty. Up until a couple years ago,
0:48.0	Benny had primarily been one half of a directing duo alongside his brother, Josh.
0:54.7	Together, they made pulse-pounding anxiety-inducing films like Daddy Longlegs,
1:00.1	good time, and most recently, Uncutut gems starring Adam Sandler.
1:05.0	But then suddenly over this past summer in GQ magazine,
1:09.0	Benny announced that he wouldn't be co-directing the next movie with his brother.
1:13.2	The split, he said, is a natural progression for how things have happened.
1:17.8	And really what's happened is that since the pandemic,
1:20.9	Benny has emerged as an excellent supporting actor.
1:24.6	Since 2021, he's been enlisted by a tours like Paul Thomas Anderson for Liquorish Pizza,
1:30.5	Claire Deney for Stars at Noon, and of course Christopher Nolan for what has become a best picture
1:36.0	front runner in Oppenheimer.
1:38.3	His latest project is called The Curse, which Benny co-created with comedian Nathan Fielder.
1:44.7	Set in a small New Mexico town, the show follows a newlywed couple struggling to bring
1:50.4	their vision for eco-conscious housing to life.
1:54.0	Their seemingly well intention efforts, emphasis on seemingly, are then complicated by
1:59.7	Dougie, a reality TV producer played by Safie who sees a potential HG TV program in their story.
2:07.0	Here's a clip from the trailer.
2:10.0	There's no such thing as a perfect city, but to me this city is as close as it comes.
2:16.0	That's why we're proud to call Espeniola my home.
2:19.0	Oh shit, our home.
2:22.0	You're all right. You got it.
	...

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