Let’s Talk About the Safdie Brothers and How Awards Season Narratives Ruin Everything

The California Post, Rupert Murdoch’s latest attempt to hog up the Los Angeles market, launched its first-ever issue with a major industry story. Written by former Variety reporter Tatiana Siegel, the piece delved into the much-discussed split between the Safdie brothers, Josh and Benny, and offered an apparent explanation for the schism.

The article claimed that the brothers had a falling out relating to an incident on the production of the 2017 film Good Time. Sources state that a sex scene involving a 17-year-old who was cast to play a sex worker in the film led to the tensions. The actress was in a scene with Buddy Duress, a longtime friend of the brothers who had spent time in prison for numerous charges. At one point, Duress, who was high at the time, “pulled down his pants, exposed himself, and asked the girl if ‘he could stick it in’ as the cameras continued to roll.” Josh did not yell cut.

Using a minor for nudity and a sex scene would be a flagrant abuse of SAG rules and basic decency. Multiple sources claim that Josh was aware of the actress’s age and did nothing to support her as the scene continued and she “spiralled.” The scene did not make it into the final cut of Good Time.

In 2023, the Safdies’ producer and collaborator, Sebastian Bear-McClard, was accused of multiple claims of sexual misconduct. One accusation involved the teenage girl cast in Good Time. Variety reported (once again from Siegel) that Bear-McClard had reached out to the girl on Instagram and that she had no idea what her role in the film entailed. “By the time she made her way to a cramped room, she was naked, standing in front of nearly a dozen male cast and crew members, including Josh and Benny Safdie.” Once the news broke of Bear-McClard’s misconduct involving the 17-year-old, according to The California Post, Benny chose to “swiftly” end his partnership with Josh.

This story is obviously horrifying. It’s also technically not new. Siegel reported much of this, almost verbatim, in 2023, including the details of Bear-McClard grooming a teenage girl for this movie and the directors not protecting her when they shoved her into a sex scene with an addict in the midst of a trip. That story also noted that Benny had had enough of Josh after this and went solo. So, why is it reemerging now and being spun as breaking news? It’s Oscar season, of course.

The California Post wanted to make an impact with its first issue, and Siegel had covered this story for years, so she had an angle and sources to back it up. Marty Supreme is up for several big Oscars, including Best Director for Josh, while Benny’s film, The Smashing Machine, only picked up a Hair and Makeup nomination. It’s a juicy narrative of warring brothers, creative differences, and a fight for gold. The timing is obviously intended to put a dent in Josh’s film and his own “the better brother” story. His film got more glory, so clearly he won, right? But now someone wants to knock that down a peg or two, meaning they’ve gone back to a story that was not widely picked up at the time and amplified it amid what was otherwise a chill season of friends and contemporaries getting along.

The story is pro-Benny, making him out to be a helpless little boy and not the co-director of these films. Oh, you were just standing there with no power or voice on your own effing set while big bad Josh pulled the strings? Who buys that? Benny is certainly aiming for more mainstream work, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera (did you know he’s in the new Super Mario Bros. movie?) Sure, he was there, but only so he could ask for directions on how to get away from there. Did he leak the story to stop Josh from winning an Oscar? Maybe. But here’s the thing: that doesn’t matter.

It shouldn’t matter whether or not this news impacts Josh Safdie and Marty Supreme’s chances of winning awards. It shouldn’t even be a topic of conversation to wonder whether Academy voters will find their opinions shifted by a story about sexual misconduct. But this is what this season does. Indeed, it is what Hollywood does: make narratives of petty grievances out of other people’s pain. One of the reasons it’s so hard for accusations of harassment and abuse to be given the weight they deserve is that they’re all so quickly spun into nefarious schemes. Societally, we love to pretend that victims (who are largely women) are vindictive liars but also puppets being controlled by some unseen larger power. Never mind how frighteningly common abuse is in every industry: it has to be that someone doesn’t want a man to succeed, right? We saw this with Amber Heard, Megan thee Stallion, Evan Rachel Wood, Angelina Jolie, and countless non-famous women who were brave enough to speak out. They didn’t get to be victims: they were remoulded into pawns.

So, I find it tough to care about this story as part of this dumb season that I cover religiously for my job. Sure, I have opinions, and even more questions. How long did Siegel hold onto this story, and did she do so to time it with her new gig at The California Post? Does Benny Safdie really believe people will buy the image of him as a helpless bystander on the sets of films with his name above the title? What studio or publicity team hopes to benefit the most from sidelining Marty Supreme, especially since it was never a threat to any category aside from Best Actor?

But frankly, none of this matters. What matters is the women who had their trust betrayed and the unsafe working conditions created by the Safdies, their producers, and their studios, all in the name of “realism.” I do not care if Timmy’s Oscar chances are hurt by this. I do not care if A24 lose money on the film and its orange merch. I do care that, in this post-#MeToo age, victims are only prioritised when they can be hijacked for inane industry drama or point scoring, and that this will only exacerbate a toxic landscape that already treats accusers as criminals. Smear campaign or not, it’s obvious what this was intended to do, and it wasn’t to elevate a hurt woman’s voice.