Director, writer, and actor Benny Safdie stops by Sam’s home this week to discuss his new film, The Smashing Machine (1:30 )—an unflinching portrait of mixed martial arts icon Mark Kerr (7:00 ), played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (9:00 ).

In the second half, we revisit our conversation from 2023. There, Safdie unpacks his collaboration with comedian Nathan Fielder on their television series The Curse (44:30 ), the timely premise that inspired the show (47:20 ), and his history of capturing real-life personalities on film (51:20 ). Then, he describes his early connection to the 1979 movie Kramer v Kramer (54:20 ), a New York encounter with photographer Robert Frank (59:20 ), and how directors Robert Bresson (1:03:20 ) and Frederick Wiseman (1:03:50 ) opened his eyes to the possibilities of street casting.

We also dive into Benny’s co-directing work alongside his brother, Josh Safdie (1:05:15 ), a heartbreaking scene from their debut feature Daddy Longlegs (1:09:26 ), and the projects that followed (1:14:15 ): Good Time, Lenny Cooke, and Uncut Gems. To close, Safdie talks about why he worked as a boom operator while directing (1:20:00 ), his recent pivot to acting (1:21:23 ), and his full circle moment of playing an astrophysicist in Oppenheimer (1:33:20 ).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

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