Pete Davidson has always never been shy about sharing his personal issues and traumas. The Saturday Night Live comedian has spoken candidly about his firefighter father’s death during the September 11 attacks, and even joked about it in his stand-up. And now, he will be tackling those issues head-on in the Judd Apatow-directed comedy The King of Staten Island.

The King of Staten Island Trailer

Both Davidson and Apatow are going back to their roots, in a way, with The King of Staten Island. For Davidson, the semi-autobiographical film will go back to his early aimless years when he struggled to get over the death of his dad, who died in service during the September 11 attacks. For Apatow —who directs the film from a script by Apatow, Davidson and former SNL writer Dave Sirus — it’s a return to the stoner comedies about men in arrested development, but with maybe a little more depth.

Davidson stars as Scott, a 20-something who dreams of being a tattoo artist but is content to smoke weed and live with his mom (Marisa Tomei) for the rest of his life. But when his mom starts dating a new man, a brash firefighter played by Bill Burr, Scott is forced to confront his own grief. Davidson isn’t reaching much when it comes to this role — after all, he’s playing a thinly veiled version of himself — but still, his performance seems touching and emotional. It’s the kind of self-aware and honest performance that makes Davidson so charming to so many people (including myself, don’t judge me), and may be the role that launches him to a successful movie career like he’s been clearly aiming for. With Apatow’s track record of making movie stars out of comedians, this just might be the case.

Here is the synopsis for The King of Staten Island:

Scott (Davidson) has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He’s now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow, HBO’s Euphoria) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Oscar® winner Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys—Oscar (Ricky Velez, Master of None), Igor (Moises Arias, Five Feet Apart) and Richie (Lou Wilson, TV’s The Guest Book)—and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show).

But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr, Netflix’s F Is for Family), it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life. The film also stars Steve Buscemi as Papa, a veteran firefighter who takes Scott under his wing, and Pamela Adlon (FX’s Better Things) as Ray’s ex-wife, Gina.

The King of Staten Island, which went through several coronavirus delays before Universal decided to skip theaters entirely, hits VOD on June 12, 2020.

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