How did Buddy Duress die?

Buddy Duress, the actor who starred in the Safdie Brothers’ movies including Good Time with Robert Pattinson, passed away last November. His brother said this week that he died because his heart stopped from mixing drugs. Buddy was 38 years old.

Director Jay Karales, who worked with Duress on the movie Mass State Lottery, announced his death on social media last week. Yesterday, Buddy’s brother Christopher Stathis told the media about the cause of his death. Buddy was born as Michael C. Stathis.

Buddy was born in Queens, New York, in May 1985. He started acting in the Safdie Brothers’ movie Heaven Knows What in 2014, which also starred Caleb Landry Jones and Arielle Holmes. Three years later, he acted in Good Time alongside Robert Pattinson, playing his character’s partner in crime.

The Safdie Brothers chose Buddy for Heaven Knows What after Josh Safdie met him when Buddy was released from Rikers Island on drug charges. However, Buddy missed a meeting for a drug treatment program and got arrested again. Heaven Knows What premiered at the New York Film Festival while Buddy was still in jail.

Even though Buddy acted in many movies like Person to Person (2017), The Great Darkened Days (2018), Beware of Dog (2020), and Funny Pages (2022), he kept having problems with the law. In a 2019 New York Post article titled “Buddy Duress should be a huge star, but he can’t stay out of Rikers,” it was reported that he got arrested multiple times that year for different reasons, including theft, threatening behavior, and having illegal weapons and drugs.