For years, brothers Josh and Benny Safdie were celebrated as one of Hollywood’s most electric creative partnerships. With nerve-shredding films like Good Time and Uncut Gems, the duo redefined modern indie cinema, blending raw realism with relentless tension. Their rise felt unstoppable—until it suddenly wasn’t.
In 2023, the Safdie brothers quietly but decisively ended their collaboration, stunning fans and industry insiders alike. At the time, speculation ran wild. Creative differences? Career ambitions? Personal burnout? According to multiple reports, including explosive revelations from Page Six Hollywood, the truth behind the split is far more troubling—and traces back to an incident on the set of Good Time nearly a decade earlier.
Sources say the fracture began during the 2017 production of Good Time, when a 17-year-old actress was cast in a scene involving nudity and simulated sex opposite Buddy Duress, a non-actor and recent prison releasee with a history of drug and weapons charges. During filming in New York, Duress—reportedly under the influence—allegedly exposed himself and made a crude sexual proposition to the underage actress while cameras continued rolling.
According to an on-set source, Josh Safdie was watching the scene on a monitor while Benny handled sound. “Any director who had seen that should have yelled ‘Cut,’” the source told Page Six Hollywood. “But Josh let it continue.” The incident allegedly violated Screen Actors Guild rules designed to protect minors and left the actress deeply shaken. Sources claim Josh only learned of her age after the scene was filmed, as concerns escalated.
The footage was ultimately removed before Good Time premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, officially described as a creative choice. Privately, however, the damage lingered. The incident remained largely buried until 2022, when it resurfaced amid divorce proceedings between the Safdies’ former producing partner, Sebastian “Sebo” Bear-McClard, and actor Emily Ratajkowski.
As court filings and industry whispers revived details from the Good Time set, Benny Safdie reportedly learned the full scope of what had happened. Sources say the revelation drove a permanent wedge between the brothers. Josh allegedly blamed Bear-McClard for casting the underage actress, while Bear-McClard denied responsibility, insisting he wasn’t present and hadn’t been tasked with verifying her age.
The fallout was swift. The Safdies cut ties with Bear-McClard and began dismantling their shared production company. Still, they continued working together for several more months, even entering pre-production on a major Netflix project that would have reunited them with Uncut Gems star Adam Sandler and co-starred Ben Affleck.
That project collapsed in March 2023 after a Variety report detailed the Good Time controversy and its connection to Bear-McClard’s legal battles. Shortly afterward, Benny ended the partnership for good.
From there, the brothers’ careers took sharply different trajectories. Josh Safdie surged ahead, directing Marty Supreme starring Timothée Chalamet—a film that went on to earn nine Oscar nominations, including Best Director. Benny Safdie pivoted to The Smashing Machine with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, which received just one minor nomination. What was once a shared legacy became an unspoken rivalry played out on Hollywood’s biggest stage.
Despite Benny’s recent claims that their split was simply a natural evolution—“We started making movies separately in college,” he told Empire—sources say the brothers are no longer on speaking terms. They reportedly attended the same wedding recently but sat at separate tables, avoiding each other entirely.
The controversy has also reignited scrutiny of the Safdies’ on-set methods. Known for their gritty verité style, the brothers frequently cast non-actors and embraced chaos in pursuit of authenticity. Critics now argue that approach sometimes crossed ethical lines. On the set of a Jay-Z music video in 2017, sources claim a child actor was kept working past 1 a.m., well beyond legal limits. “The child was crying and asking to go home,” one source said. “Josh’s disregard was horrifying.”
Anne Henry, co-founder of child-actor advocacy group BizParentz, questioned the industry’s willingness to overlook such behavior. “It’s troubling that just a few years later Josh Safdie is being honored as a director,” she said. “This is 2026. We shouldn’t be in a ‘create entertainment at all costs’ environment.”
At the center of the original Good Time controversy was Buddy Duress, whose life ended tragically in November 2023 from a heroin overdose—his brief film career overshadowed by personal struggles and scandal.
In the end, the Safdie brothers’ breakup is more than a Hollywood feud. It’s a cautionary tale about ambition, artistic risk, and the ethical boundaries blurred in the pursuit of cinematic realism. As awards season celebrates Josh Safdie’s solo success, the lingering question remains: what price is too high for greatness?
