Uncut Gems co-director Benny Safdie explains why he will not be helming Elara Pictures’ next collaboration with Adam Sandler alongside his brother Josh. The duo directed Sandler to some of the best reviews of his career since the release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love, leading Sandler to become a major Oscar contender during the 2019-2020 awards season. While he ended up not being nominated for an Academy Award, Sandler will reunite with the Uncut Gems filmmakers on a new project.
In a recent interview with GQ to promote the release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer ahead of the current SAG-AFTRA strike, Safdie explains why he will not be teaming up with his brother again to direct Sandler’s latest big role. Safdie states that the yet-to-be-titled movie is still being developed under the Elara umbrella, and that Josh Safdie and producer Ronald Bronstein had been in development for the upcoming Sandler movie for some time while Benny was working on other projects. Check out what he says on the matter below:
Elara is still there. We work on a lot of documentaries and there’s just a constant flow of ideas. It just felt like, okay, there’s things that I want to explore that don’t necessarily align right now with Josh. So it’s a divide and conquer mentality. He wants to tell this story, he can go and do that. I’m going to go and do a couple of other things. It seems like a natural progression for how things have happened. [..] It was just a matter of, ‘This works for me right now and this is what I’ve got to do.’
Benny Safdie’s Acting Career Is Extremely Promising
After co-starring with Robert Pattinson in Good Time, which Safdie also helmed with his brother, the filmmaker/actor began to have a promising career in front of the camera. He then landed roles in movies such as Pieces of a Woman and Licorice Pizza, and he broke out on television by starring in Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, even if his character was only limited to one episode. Safdie also starred in Claire Denis’ Stars at Noon and in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, with the latter being one of the biggest critical hits of the year so far.
Safdie will now appear in Oppenheimer and is poised to have a pivotal role as Edward Teller, one of the members of the Manhattan Project and one of the key players in the success of the Trinity test. He is part of one of the most stacked ensembles of the year, alongside Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., and Florence Pugh, among many others. Safdie has found a comfortable presence in front of the camera, and it’s understandable why he wants to pursue this venture alongside continuing his work at Elara.
While Safdie will not be directing the upcoming Sandler movie, he did help co-write the screenplay with his brother. Not much is known about the movie other than it will be set in the world of sports memorabilia and will co-star Megan Thee Stallion. Some of Uncut Gems‘ focus was on basketball, so it’s only natural that they would want to continue this trend with Sandler playing a character stuck in another anxiety-ridden sports world. Hopefully, more details will be revealed soon, though the ongoing writers and actors strikes could impact this mystery project’s development.
Source: GQ
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
