In a new interview with Variety, the younger Safdie confirmed he and his brother are no longer looking to collaborate on new projects.
Benny Safdie had a pretty good 2023, all things considered. He starred in two of the best films of the year, as physicist Edward Teller in Oppenheimer and loveable dad in Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. The Curse, the deeply weird black comedy he starred in alongside Emma Stone and Nathen Fielder, remains one of the buzzier TV hits in a pretty crowded marketplace.
On the directorial side, though, things seem to have taken a back foot. After the critical success of Good Time and Uncut Gems, Benny and his brother Josh’s next project, a sports memorabilia movie starring Adam Sandler and Megan Thee Stallion, has apparently been shelved for now, and in a recent Variety interview Benny seemed to confirm the pair are taking a creative break.
“It’s a natural progression of what we each want to explore,” he says. “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.”
When asked if the duo would direct with each other again, he gave a refreshingly honest response: “I don’t know.”
While the brothers have built up their directorial careers together, hopefully this won’t spell the end of film projects from either of them any time soon – if for no other reason than they might persuade Adam Sandler not to do Murder Mystery 3.