The Safdie Brothers aren’t just the directors behind acclaimed films Heaven Knows What, Good Time, and Uncut Gems. They’re also part-time actors, as seen when Benny Safdie played Robert Pattinson’s brother in Good Time. Now Benny is taking on another role, only this time it’ll be the great Paul Thomas Anderson behind the camera.
According to Collider, Benny Safdie has landed a major role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film, a 1970s coming-of-age drama about a successful child actor attending high school in the San Fernando Valley. Multiple storylines will converge, however, much like Anderson’s films Boogie Nights and Magnolia. He joins a cast that includes Bradley Cooper and Haim band member Alana Haim.
Safdie’s role gives us more insight into the film than we’ve previously known. He’ll play a closeted gay politician named Wachs, who the New York Times says is inspired by L.A. city councilman Joel Wachs, “closeted gay man until he was preparing to run for mayor in 1999 at the age of sixty.”
Casting will focus on fresh faces rather than established stars, although with Cooper on board that’s not entirely the case. Production had been set to begin earlier this year but was delayed, and will now shoot in the fall.
