Benny Safdie

2 months ago

“Performance is fleeting. I like acting, and part of what I love about directing is that I love performance. There’s something incredible about being in the moment— being able to create an emotion that’s not real.”

–Benny Safdie, episode 354 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Director, writer, and actor Benny Safdie stops by Sam’s home this week to discuss his new film, The Smashing Machine (1:30)—an unflinching portrait of mixed martial arts icon Mark Kerr (7:00), played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (9:00).

In the second half, we revisit our conversation from 2023. There, Safdie unpacks his collaboration with comedian Nathan Fielder on their television series The Curse (44:30), the timely premise that inspired the show (47:20), and his history of capturing real-life personalities on film (51:20). Then, he describes his early connection to the 1979 movie Kramer v Kramer (54:20), a New York encounter with photographer Robert Frank (59:20), and how directors Robert Bresson (1:03:20) and Frederick Wiseman (1:03:50) opened his eyes to the possibilities of street casting.

We also dive into Benny’s co-directing work alongside his brother, Josh Safdie (1:05:15), a heartbreaking scene from their debut feature Daddy Longlegs (1:09:26), and the projects that followed (1:14:15): Good Time, Lenny Cooke, and Uncut Gems. To close, Safdie talks about why he worked as a boom operator while directing (1:20:00), his recent pivot to acting (1:21:23), and his full circle moment of playing an astrophysicist in Oppenheimer (1:33:20).

For questions, comments, or to join our mailing list, drop me a line at sf@talkeasypod.com.

Benny Safdie