Benny Safdie says his work as director of The Smashing Machine benefitted from his wildly successful second career as an actor, following recent performances in the likes of Oppenheimer and Licorice Pizza.
Safdie is best-known as the co-director of the exceedingly tense drama-thrillers Uncut Gems and Good Time, as well as being the sole director of The Smashing Machine – an unconventional sports biopic which stars Dwayne Johnson as early UFC champ Mark Kerr. But the filmmaker also has a burgeoning career in front of the camera, having appeared in movies for the likes of Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson and Claire Denis – work that informed his approach to directing his latest movie.
"There's certain things that happen, then I think, 'Oh, wow, that made me do better,'" Safdie explains, speaking to GamesRadar+ about his experiences acting for legendary filmmakers between directing duties. "There was one time where Chris [Nolan] came up to me and he was like, 'I have to take away one of your lines.' And he was very serious about it. From a director's point of view, I'm like, 'Do what you gotta do! Fine!' Then I realized, 'Oh, wait a second, this is a big deal,' He's approaching it with this level of care."
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As well as appearing as the traitorous Edward Teller in Oppenheimer – where he memorably shares the screen with Smashing Machine star Emily Blunt – Safdie also acts in One Battle After Another director Paul Thomas Anderson's 2021 movie Licorice Pizza, where he plays a politician running for the mayor of Los Angeles. The collaboration with Anderson proved equally informative. "Paul would say something to me like, 'I don't know if we could do much better than that.' But I could hear that there was a little something. A competitive nature, playing into our relationship. I'm like, 'Oh, you know what, let's go!'"
These differing experiences in front of the camera fed into Safdie's approach to directing the intense confrontations between Johnson's Kerr and Blunt's Dawn on The Smashing Machine. "I know that being on that side is a very vulnerable place to be," Safdie says. "And you have to make decisions and you don't know if it's going to work, and you want somebody to say you did okay. Having had those feelings I thought 'Okay, how can I lessen that and just make it feel as if there's no pressure?'"
For Blunt, having a director with acting experience made all the difference. "I have to say, the most loving directors I've worked with have been actors," Blunt notes. "Because they understand the vulnerability. You [Benny] and John [Krasinski] are very similar. I felt that with John on the Quiet Place movies, that as soon as they call cut, he's in, he's saying 'Woo!' and it helps you, because it's that awful pause where you're waiting. 'Did I do okay?' And it is vulnerable, and as many years as you've been around the block, I still get scared."
The Smashing Machine opens in theaters on October 3. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies heading your way for the rest of the year.
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