By Actor and filmmaker Benny Safdie has confirmed that the upcoming follow-up to “Uncut Gems,” starring Adam Sandler and Megan Thee Stallion, is currently “on pause”.
Benny and his brother Josh co-directed both 2017’s “Good Time” starring Robert Pattinson, and 2019’s “Uncut Gems” starring Sandler. Both were to re-team for the new film, but months after it was announced that things changed with Benny no longer going to co-direct.
Asked by Variety about the rumors he and his brother have fallen out, Benny Safdie says:
“It’s a natural progression of what we each want to explore. 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.”
He adds he didn’t co-write the script and isn’t involved with the new film’s creative process. Asked if he’d ever direct something with his brother again, he responded: “I don’t know”.
Benny Safdie’s attention is now turned toward A24’s “The Smashing Machine” starring Dwayne Johnson playing the real-life mixed martial artist Mark Kerr.
Johnson also spoke to the outlet and says of the film and its director:
“I want to be clear not to say that this is an abandonment of big, four-quadrant movies. I love making them, and there is tremendous value and importance in [them] … but there’s a time and a place for them. I’m at this point in my career where I want more. And I don’t mean I want more box office. I mean I want more humanity. And that is why Benny Safdie is the perfect, collaborative, hungry partner for me.
Benny wants to create, and continues to push the envelope when it comes to stories that are raw and real, characters that are authentic and at times uncomfortable and arresting. I’m at a point in my career where I want to push myself in ways that I’ve not pushed myself in the past. I’m at a point in my career where I want to make films that matter, that explore a humanity and explore struggle [and] pain.”
That film doesn’t have a release date. Safdie also says there is a “lot more fun to be had in this world” in regards to Showtime’s series success story “The Curse,” suggesting a second season may eventually happen.
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