My goal was to say ‘If you’re struggling you’re not alone’
Comedian Pete Davidson explains to LAURA HARDING, how he used his new film, The King of Staten Island, to explore his own grief over the loss of his father
PETE DAVIDSON is imagining the path his life might have taken had he not become a comedy superstar.
He is channelling a very personal tragedy into a semiautobiographical big screen endeavour, looking at the way things might have gone if he hadn’t rocketed to fame at the age of 20 when he joined the cast of US sketchshow Saturday Night Live.
“Comedy saved my life,” he says frankly. “What would happen to Pete if he never found comedy? I think tattooing minors in the woods is probably where I would be at.”
That is a reference to an early scene in The King of Staten Island, which he penned with the film’s director Judd Apatow and his friend Dave Sirus.
Pete plays Scott, a character named after his late father, who is an aspiring tattoo artist still struggling to find his way after the loss of his firefighter dad, battling mental health issues, and still living at home with his mother, as the comedian himself still does.
Pete was just seven years old when his own firefighter father ran into the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 and never came home.
The tragedy of losing his dad at such a young age has lingered over much of what he has done since.
It is a frequent subject in the 26-year-old’s stand-up comedy, and his heavily-tattooed body is covered in ink that pays tribute to him. He and ex-fiancee Ariana Grande both have 8418, Pete’s father’s badge number, inked on to their bodies, while Pete also has an image of a firefighter, a fireman’s helmet, his father’s
ID and the numbers XI and 11 also among his extensive body art.
One of the first conversations he had with Apatow, best known for directing comedies such as Knocked Up and Trainwreck, when they were writing the film, was about how autobiographical he was willing to be?
“I had a lot of trust in Judd because he’s my friend so I think it was really easy for me to go that deep,” Pete says.
“I don’t think I would have been able to go that deep if I didn’t have him and such a great cast and crew.
“One of the main things was we would talk about it and we would ask each other ‘Hey is this too far, is this comfortable for you?’ so I think because we had such an honest and open conversation that it made it easy for me to do so.”
Despite all that support, he still admits he felt vulnerable. “It was a little scary,” he concedes. “One of the main goals in making this film was not only for the character in the movie, but for me personally, was to be able to move forward, and find that new chapter in life where you could move past your past.
“And I think we were able to do that, both in the film and in my life.”
Reservoir Dogs star Steve Buscemi, who plays a firefighter in the film, said he was moved by how raw and vulnerable the script was.
“I was happy Pete was being brave enough and vulnerable enough to really show a side of him that I think maybe people don’t really know about him.
“Just knowing his story, I just was very proud of him and it was inspiring that he was able to be so open.”
But because of their close friendship, Judd instinctively felt protective of Pete while they were working on the screenplay.
“I have worked with other people who are willing to make themselves vulnerable and be very truthful,” the director says.
“I’ve made movies with my kids where they were little (Funny People, This Is 40, Knocked Up) and I wanted them to come across well on screen and I would be terrified the entire shoot and the edit, what if I make my kids look terrible in this movie? What if they are humiliated worldwide because I did a bad job?
“And working with Lena Dunham (on her hit TV show Girls) helped a lot. She was always finding a way to be brave and vulnerable about all of the things she was going through so I feel I’ve had a lot of years where people have been willing to do this and I was aware of what you need to do so that person feels like we all care and have his back.”
It was particularly important to both of them that they portray mental health issues sensitively, after Pete revealed in 2017 that he has borderline personality disorder.
“I think when you are open and honest it can only be helpful,” the comedian says.
“I was really fortunate enough when I was growing up that Kid Cudi (the rapper) was my hero and he was always very open and honest about his feelings and it made me feel like I wasn’t alone.
“So my goal was always to just say ‘If you’re struggling out there, you’re not alone, a lot of us are having a difficult time’.”
Judd nods in agreement.
“I think it’s always important to be honest about these things. I grew up in the early 80s and no-one ever said they were depressed, no-one ever said they had anxiety and I think we were all depressed and we all had anxiety and we didn’t even have those words.
“We didn’t know anyone would care about our feelings, it just wasn’t how we communicated with each other and I think about how many kids must have really been suffering because no-one’s parents were sending them to a therapist, we were all just sucking it up. So I think it’s great when Pete talks about these issues, I know it’s very meaningful to people.”