00:00The breakup of the hottest indie director duo, brothers Josh and Benny Safdie, has mystified
00:04Hollywood. Rumors swirled that one brother went full MAGA, creating tensions, while the
00:10duo vaguely blamed the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike in conversation with colleagues. Speculation
00:16only intensified when Josh nabbed four Oscar nominations for his solo effort, Marty Supreme,
00:21while Benny came up empty-handed for his, The Smashing Machine. But now, Page Six Hollywood
00:27can reveal that the root of the quarrel stems from a much darker incident that occurred on
00:31the set of their 2017 breakout, Good Time, with Benny cutting ties with his brother in 2023
00:37after he learned the full scope of the event. According to Good Time sources, a 17-year-old
00:43girl was cast to play a prostitute in the crime thriller. Once on set, the teenager was thrust
00:48into a scene that involved nudity and simulated sex with actor Buddy Duress during production
00:54in New York. As part of their verite style, the Safdies were known for using a mix of professional
01:00stars, like the film's lead, Robert Pattinson, as well as non-actors like Duress, who had just
01:05been released from prison. While Josh watched the action unfold on his monitor and Benny stood in
01:10the corner holding the boom, Duress, who was high at the time, exposed himself to the 17-year-old as
01:17the cameras continued to roll, multiple sources tell Page Six Hollywood. An on-set source who noted that
01:23Josh, and not Benny, was the de facto commander on set, said quote,
01:27Any director who had seen that should have yelled cut and stopped the scene,
01:31but Josh let it continue. Three sources say Josh, who is now vying for this year's Best Director Oscar,
01:38became aware of the girl's age on the day of production, shortly after the scene shot,
01:43as the traumatized girl spiraled. However, Josh declined to comment. Those familiar with the
01:48chain of events say Josh's recklessness was beyond the pale. The Safdies removed the scene sometime
01:54before the A24 film made its splashy world premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Sources close to
02:01them insist that the scene was excised for creative reasons. But the repercussions of that incident
02:06didn't surface until 2022, when their former producing partner, Sebastian Cebo Behr-McClard,
02:13became locked in a bitter divorce with actress Emily Ratajkowski, threatening to expose the Good
02:18Time dirty laundry. Sources also said Behr-McClard had deliances on the set of the Safdies' uncut gems,
02:25including an extramarital fling with a cast member. A rep for the siblings at the time
02:30said they were quote, made aware of McClard's behavior in July 2022. It was also the moment Benny was
02:36made aware of the Good Time actress's age, creating a wedge between the brothers, as one friend of theirs
02:42described it. Josh blamed Behr-McClard for hiring a minor. Behr-McClard pushbacked and noted that he
02:48wasn't the producer responsible for ensuring her age. Sources also noted that Behr-McClard wasn't in
02:54the room when Duress tried to have on-camera sex with the teen. The brothers cut ties with Behr-McClard
02:59and began private mediation to unravel the company the trio founded. Quote,
03:05you don't all of a sudden develop a moral conscious six years later. Like, that's not how it works,
03:09a source familiar with the drama said. Still, the Safdies continued to work with one another for
03:15another nine months amid mounting tensions. In early 2023, they were in pre-production on yet
03:20another red-hot property that would reunite them with their uncut gem star Adam Sandler at Netflix.
03:27Then, in March of 2023, a report revealed the behind-the-scenes drama of Ratajkowski's split
03:32from Behr-McClard, which included some of the details from the Good Time incident, including the
03:37girl's age. It was the final straw for Benny who swiftly ended his creative partnership with his brother,
03:42Insider Say. As a result, their Sandler project for Netflix was suddenly dead. The brothers then went their
03:48separate ways, with Josh tackling Marty Supreme with Timothee Chalamet and Benny pivoting to the
03:53Smashing Machine with Dwayne The Rock Johnson. As the town pondered the Safdie breakup, it turns out
03:58the sibling rivalry in this year's Oscar race is merely a secondary drama. Now that the dust has
04:04settled on this year's Oscar nominations, it's clear that Josh prevailed, with Marty Supreme landing
04:09nine nominations overall, while The Smashing Machine earned just one in a minor category.
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