The King of Staten Island follows Pete Davidson's character Scott, a direction-less slacker whose firefighter father died in the line of duty. It's loosely based on Pete's real life, and you play the new firefighter boyfriend of Scott's mother (Marisa Tomei). What attracted you to the role of Ray?
It's Judd Apatow! If he comes up to you and says, "Do you want to be in a movie?" What am I going to say, no? The guy has made a billion dollars at the box office!
He came on my Monday Morning Podcast and said, "Hey, I want to pitch you this..." So afterwards we went out and got a burger and some fries, and he laid the whole movie out. I was like, "You're Judd Apatow, of course I'm saying yes." Plus, it also meant I was going to do a movie with Pete, who I've known for a long time.
I met Pete right as he started doing standup, when he was a gangly, awkward 15-year-old. He and his mother actually came out to my show, and I never forgot him. I was always friends with him, but getting to spend a whole summer with him filming The King of Staten Island really solidified our friendship. I'd do anything for that guy, man. He's the best.
How much like his character is he in real life?
The sense of humor is definitely Pete, but he's not a slacker. He is very, very professional and hard-working. He was always the first guy there and the last guy to leave, and he would do things that a lot of movie leads don't do. If you only had a few lines, he'd say, "Hey, why don't you shoot him out of this so he can get out of here." He was always looking out for other actors and did a lot to keep morale high on set, which meant a lot.
And what was it like working with Judd onset?
I had a great time with him. I love how much he likes improvising — at this point it's legendary.
How was doing improv for you as an actor?
It was cool. I don't know where I learned how to do it, but I think I've done enough. I mean, I used to be terrible at it and sounded too self-conscious — I worried about remembering my lines or when I was supposed to talk, and trying to not freak out that I was going to get fired. I don't know when that changed, to be honest. It was a very gradual thing.
Was Ray based on a real person in Pete's life?
Pete has talked about his mother dating after his father died, and I think Ray sort of represented all of these new guys that were coming around. He also represented "not Pete's dad" and life going on. He represented everything that Pete's character didn't want to deal with.
Where did you draw inspiration from for the character?
I talked to some of the firefighters those characters were loosely based on. But I've got to be honest, after growing out a mustache and looking in the mirror, a lot of the character choices just fell into place — like how Ray eats and how he sits at the table. Plus, Pete and Judd had written that he always uses sports analogies and stuff like that. Somewhere in all of that muck, I found this guy.
Steve Buscemi has a small part in the film. What was it like working with him?
The guy's a legend, and he was so cool and down to earth. Within two seconds he was one of the guys. I'll be honest, I was sitting there going, "Holy s—, that's Steve Buscemi." But he was also was a firefighter in real life, so I was watching him as all that muscle memory came back. I'd kind of look at him to make sure I was doing things right [as a firefighter]. They also had a number of actual working firefighters on the set, so I always made sure I was asking them if I was doing stuff right.
