Apatow Directs ‘The King of Staten Island’ with Pete Davidson

By JENNIKA INGRAM | Reporter 

Former Palisadian Judd Apatow directs Pete Davidson (“Saturday Night Live”) in “The King of Staten Island”—a film distributed by Universal Pictures recently out for streaming on June 12.

Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up”) does what Apatow does best and focuses his talents on a comedy-drama about arrested development.

“The King of Staten Island” is the story of a young man whose firefighter dad died, and now he finds himself in his 20s, not achieving much. His ambition is to become a tattoo artist, at the same time as his younger sister is heading off to college.

The star of the film is Davidson playing Scott (named after his own father) in a story that is semi-autobiographical: His father, a firefighter and first-responder, died as a result of September 11 when Davidson was 7 years old.

Apatow’s eldest daughter Maude plays Claire Carlin, Scott’s younger sister, in the film.

Maude shared she is taking acting more seriously and enjoyed the chance to improvise on set in a recent interview on YouTube posted on June 4. Maude is also known for playing “Lexi” in HBO’s “Euphoria.”

Scott’s mom in the movie is played by Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei, and comedian Bill Burr plays the loudmouth firefighter that wants to date her—an action that sets off a chain of events that forces Scott to face his grief after the death of his father and start to move forward in his life.

“I just always wanted to show where I’m coming from, pretty much like how a tragedy affects a family, and I think there hasn’t been many of those movies that are really honest and transparent,” Davidson shared on a “CBS Sunday Morning Report” with co-host Tony Dokoupil.

Apatow shares the writing credit on the film with Davidson and Dave Sirus, a former “SNL” writer. Apatow Productions produced the film alongside Barry Mendel.

Executive producers include Davidson, Michael Bederman and Judah Miller.

Davidson’s group of pals in the movie are played by Ricky Velez (“Master of None,”) Moises Aria (“Five Feet Apart,”) and Lou Wilson (“American Vandal”), and his secret flame is played by Bel Powley (“The Morning Show”).

The rated-R movie has a run time of 136 minutes.