Good Time and Heaven Knows What actor Buddy Duress has died at 38.
Duress, who co-starred alongside Twilight star Robert Pattinson in Good Time, died in November 2023 due to a ‘cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail’ his brother, Christopher Stathis, told People.
He made his acting debut in Josh and Benny Safdie’s 2014 film Heaven Knows What — a role he landed shortly after being released from Rikers Island for a drug-related conviction.
The actor — who was in-and-out of jail throughout his life — is survived by his mother Jo-Anne and younger brother Christopher.
He had a long history of legal troubles, having been in jail at least 10 times with charges including identity theft, grand larceny, and heroin possession.
Good Time and Heaven Knows What actor Buddy Duress has died at 38; seen in 2017
Duress, who co-starred alongside Twilight star Robert Pattinson (L) in Good Time, died in November 2023 due to a ‘cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail’ his brother, Christopher Stathis, told People on Tuesday
Buddy was born Michael C. Stathis in Queens, New York in May 1985, and went to Robert Louis Stevenson High School in Manhattan.
After his 2014 movie debut, he later teamed up with the Safdie brothers again in the 2017 movie Good Time, where he played a drug dealer who teams up with Pattinson’s character.
He also appeared in several other film projects, including Person to Person, Funny Pages, Flinch, Beware of Dog, The Mountain and more.
He has two more projects scheduled to be released later this year as per his IMDb page: Skull and Mass State Lottery.
Buddy’s stints in jail stifled his career. In 2019 The New York Post reported that comedian Pete Davidson was such a fan of the actor he inquired about him auditioning for his ‘Untitled Judd Apatow – Pete Davidson Comedy,’ directed by Apatow.
However Buddy ‘couldn’t do it because he was in Rikers.’
In a 2017 interview with SSense, Duress shared that he met Josh Safdie through a mutual friend in 2013, after he was released from Rikers Island for drug charges.
At the time, Duress was on the run after he skipped out on a drug in-patient program.
He got the role in Heaven Knows What, but was later caught by police and taken back to Rikers Island after the movie was finished. He was still in prison when the film premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2014.
He is survived by his mother Jo-Anne and younger brother Christopher; seen with Pattinson at the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival in 2017
He had a long history of legal troubles, having been in jail at least 10 times with charges including identity theft, grand larceny, and heroin possession; seen in 2014
He made his acting debut in Josh and Benny Safdie’s 2014 film Heaven Knows What — a role he landed shortly after being released from Rikers Island for a drug-related conviction; seen with co-star Arielle Holmes in a 2014 still from the film
He later teamed up with the Safdie brothers again in the 2017 movie Good Time (pictured) where he played a drug dealer who teams up with Pattinson’s character
He also appeared in several other film projects, including Person to Person, Funny Pages, and Beware of Dog; seen in 2017
‘You know, I still look back at it. If I had went to that program, I wouldn’t have been in Heaven Knows What, and I probably wouldn’t be an actor right now. That’s the honest truth. I wouldn’t,’ he told the publication.
After he was released, the filmmakers asked him to write a journal about his time in prison, later adapting it into their script for Good Time, as per the Los Angeles Times.
In 2019, he was arrested on charges of grand larceny in the third degree and went back to Rikers, as per the New York Post.
He was also arrested for threatening to burn his mother Jo-Anne’s house down that same year, while filming crime drama Flinch.
He was bailed out by director Cameron Van Hoy and his mom, but later arrested and taken back to Rikers again for charges of menacing and criminal possession of brass knuckles and a controlled substance.
‘He is a wildly talented actor. But he needs to focus on acting instead of hustling on the streets,’ Van Hoy told The New York Post at the time.
Despite his legal issues while filming the movie, Flinch Van Hoy had nothing but praise for the star.
‘Buddy was pure electricity on screen. Working with him was one of the great adventures of my life,’ he told People.
‘He was a kind person who loved making films. Despite any troubles he was going through in life he somehow managed to put them aside when it came time to work.’
‘We grew quite close after the production of our film Flinch. I’m heartbroken that his life came to an end as it did.’
He has two more projects scheduled to be released later this year as per his IMDb page: Skull and Mass State Lottery; seen in 2017
Director Jay Karales shared a touching tribute following the news, calling Buddy ‘an absolute treasure’ as he praised his ‘authenticity and charisma’
His other director, Jay Karales — with whom he filmed Mass State Lottery — called him ‘a once in a lifetime charismatic actor and a genuinely humble man that left an impression on everyone he met’ in a statement to People.
He called his death a ‘tragic and frustrating loss of visceral talent’ adding, ‘He lived like a cowboy and carrying the weight of that kind of life informed his skills and performances in a way that made him irreplaceable as an actor.’
Jay also shared a tribute to him on Instagram, writing: ‘This man was an absolute treasure. Without a doubt, Buddy was one of the most entertaining people I’ve ever met and his stories were unrivaled.’
‘I remember seeing him in Good Time in 2017 and saying, “That is what the future of acting needs to be. That guy.” He brought a certain authenticity and charisma to the screen that you just don’t see anymore. It was a dream to get him in Mass State Lottery, and I feel privileged to have been his director and his friend.’