MONEY ON THE STREET
Josh and Benny Safdie are a couple of real Noo Yawkahs, so much so that they don’t even pronounce the term that way. They grew up ferried between Dad’s in Queens and Mom’s on the Upper West Side, developing an infatuation with Gotham’s grit and eccentricity that has informed their vivid body of work. The brothers’ world teems with crooks, addicts and sleazeballs — off-colour characters such as deluxe jeweller Howard Ratner, the antihero played by Adam Sandler at the heart of their latest and greatest film, Uncut Gems. Drawing from memories of their father’s work in the Diamond District, the legend of envelope-pushing Jew-Ubermensch Al Goldstein and a lifelong passion for pro basketball, they’ve made the rare Big Apple movie that feels as hectic and relentless as the city itself.
LWLies: With so much location shooting in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, how did you make it all work, especially getting a star like Adam Sandler in and out?
Josh Safdie: As early as nine years ago, I started trying to develop a rapport with someone in the Diamond District, and eventually I did. Through some kind of barter deal – our lawyer told us recently that he found the old contract – we designed him an Uzbek-style lounge for the penthouse of one of the Diamond District buildings, and he gave us six months of free rent in the area. In our mind, we looked at that location as ‘on location.’
When we got to scouting, it became a nightmare: elevators on Shabbos stopping on every floor, all sorts of different stuff. A logistical mess. So we abandoned that, and decided to build everything in Howard’s office and showroom on a stage. And the challenge there – I’m gonna get to your question – was how to bring 47th Street to our stage on Long Island. We ended up just bringing people from the actual street to come hang out, and our casting director found a lot of the right people
