Forward 50 | Josh and Benny Safdie: The hoop dreamers

Benny and Josh Safdie with Adam Sandler

By Forward Staff December 20, 2019

We have the Safdies to thank for pushing Adam Sandler outside of his sophomoric comfort zone for a career-best performance as gambling-addicted jeweler Howard Ratner. Their newly released film, “Uncut Gems,” elevates the brothers’ already remarkable, neon- and desperation-drenched oeuvre by taking on a different side of New York: The glitzy, Glatt-certified row of Manhattan’s Diamond District. I mean, the Safdies got Princess Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Kevin Garnett in a film together and gave us an Afikomen-search scene where Sandler and Judd Hirsch dunk on Knicks owner (and sometimes frontman for a bad band), James Dolan. What else can one say to that but “Thank you?”

Josh (35) and Benny (33) Safdie grew up shuttling between divorced parents in Queens and Manhattan. Their six films have racked up more than 20 major awards and nominations. (The Safdies did not respond to requests through their agents to fill out our questionnaire.)

Benny and Josh Safdie with Adam Sandler

What do they eat after premiering a film? When the film is “Uncut Gems,” and the premiere venue is Manhattan, what else? Deli. Katz’s specifically.

Favorite sport: Basketball, without a doubt. They used to hole up in their childhood bedroom with basketball cards; they try to to watch every Knicks game together; and they made a documentary, “Lenny Cooke,” about a high school phenom who failed to make it big.

Filmmaking Heroes: Per their Criterion Top 10 List, Vittorio De Sica, John Cassavetes, Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”), Robert Altman, Jacques Tati, Robert Bresson and Francois Truffaut.

Any weird Jewish stories? As revealed in a recent New Yorker profile, the Safdies, who were at one time courting Harvey Keitel for the role of Howard and Amar’e Stoudemire to play himself in “Uncut Gems,” had a Seder with both of them. Stoudemire’s hosted. We don’t know who found the Afikomen.

Follow The Safdie Brothers on Twitter @JOSH_BENNY

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Read more The Forward’s review of “Uncut Gems”

The Forward’s review of 2017’s “Good Time”

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