'Good Time' to 'Heaven Knows What': Buddy Duress's best films
The 38-year-old Hollywood actor Buddy Duress passed away in November last year, his brother Christopher Stathis told PEOPLE on Tuesday. Per Stathis, Duress died of a "cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail." Born Michael C. Stathis in Queens, New York, in 1985, Duress was best known for his collaborations with filmmaking duo, brothers Ben and Joshua Safdie. In his memory, revisit his best films.
'Heaven Knows What'
Duress debuted in movies through the 2014 release Heaven Knows What, also featuring Arielle Holmes, Eleonore Hendricks, and Caleb Landry Jones, and based on Holmes's unpublished memoir Mad Love in New York City. While Holmes essayed the protagonist, Harley Boggs, Duress played a drug dealer named Mike. Per Rotten Tomatoes, it's "grueling and rewarding in equal measure." It was directed by the Safdie brothers.
'Good Time'
Duress garnered further acclaim for starring as Ray, a criminal in the Safdie brothers' Good Time, headlined by Robert Pattinson. The critical sensation—which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival—also featured Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi, and Rose Gregorio. It's streaming on Amazon Prime Video and can be rented on YouTube, Apple TV, and Google Play.
'PVT Chat'
The erotic thriller PVT Chat, directed by Ben Hozie, stars Duress alongside Peter Vack, Julia Fox, and Dasha Nekrasova. Opening at the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival, it generally courted positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes's critics' consensus says, "Its intelligent and nuanced approach to potentially salacious material is refreshing, but PVT Chat struggles to use it in service of a meaningful story."
'Flinch'
IMDb describes Cameron Van Hoy's Flinch as, "A young Hitman who lives with his mother develops feelings for the witness of a murder he commits." Duress rubbed shoulders with Daniel Zovatto, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Tom Segura, Cathy Moriarty, and Michael Drayer in this crime thriller film. Van Hoy, who is also a writer and producer, marked his directorial debut with Flinch.
