The King of Staten Island

The King of Staten Island

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The king is coming.

“Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson’s long-awaited movie, “The King of Staten Island” -- which is loosely based on the comedian’s borough upbringing -- will be released Friday on video-on-demand services.

The film, which was directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by Apatow, Davidson and former “SNL” writer Dave Sirus, is skipping its theatrical run like many other potential blockbusters this summer due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The King of Staten Island" will be available through on-demand services, including Verizon Fios, Xfinity, Spectrum and RedBox. It also will be available for purchase on Prime Video, VUDU and FandangoNOW. It will not be available on Netflix at its initial release.

The movie follows Scott, a 20-something aspiring tattoo artist who is coming to terms with the loss of his firefighter father, who died 17 years earlier. In real life, Davidson’s dad — whose name was Scott — was an FDNY firefighter who fell victim to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The “Saturday Night Life” star was 7 years old at the time.

Apatow has described the film as an “opportunity for Pete to tell you about himself and to tell you about his feelings and his journey.”

“The King of Staten Island” stars Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Steve Buscemi, comedian Ricky Velez, Moisés Arias and Machine Gun Kelly.

True to its name, the movie uses the borough as a backdrop.

Davidson, a Great Kills native, and Apatow initially made their way to Staten Island in February 2019 to slocations cout for the movie. The comedian was seen in Elm Park, where residents reportedly received letters stating the “neighborhood is an area of interest for a new film project.” The letter included a timeline for the project: “Shoot dates are TBD Summer. We are expecting production to last 1-2 months. Depending on the final script, we would be looking to shoot on your property for approximately 1-3 weeks.”

Throughout that summer, the production filmed at Ralph’s Famous Ices, Denino’s Pizzeria & Tavern, Rosebank Pizza and at a home on Lake Avenue in Mariners Harbor.

“The King of Staten Island, with a runtime of 136 minutes, is rated R “for language and drug use throughout, sexual content and some violence/bloody images.”