when a24 first poached zeke from the nothingness that was his career, they thought it'd be chill to set him up to meet with some of their other directors aka the safdies! who were prepping good time at the time. stole some backstory from buddy duress for zeke and he'd talked about how the safdies developed a friendship with him because he lived this crazy life and they were fascinated (back in the heaven knows what days) buuut i stole that for zeke - which was they all bonded and the guys were like, "we could just cast you in the movie so you could see what it's like on set." so they did in the costarring role! and they've been close ever since.