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'The Smashing Machine' Director Benny Safdie Breaks Down a Scene | Vanity Fair

Safdie explains how he shapes performance and camera together to keep a scene feeling documentary-real. Valuable for directors interested in blending naturalistic acting with deliberate visual structure.

Vanity Fair · 12 min · Intermediate · DIR · Directing · 2025

What you take away

Give actors room to find the moment live on set, then use camera position to protect that spontaneity in the edit.

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