Hi, Im Judd Apatow. And Im the director and co-writer of The King of Staten Island. This is a scene from early in The King of Staten Island. Thats Maude Apatow, who is playing Petes sister Claire. And in this scene, she is about to leave for college the next day. And shes giving her brother a set of paints to encourage him to pursue his tattooing dream more aggressively. I know youre into art, so I thought you could expand your horizons while Im gone. You got a gift receipt for this? But its also a guilt gift, because shes leaving and on some level, abandoning him. So under the guise of being nice, she is bee-lining for the door. Be nice to mom, O.K.? Dont give her a hard time. She deserves a break. I always give her a break. When am I going to get my break? Like What are you talking about? All anyone ever does is worry about you. In this conversation, Petes character is really on to her. They know each other so well, and he knows this as a guilt gift. He knows shes trying to get away from him. And hes also guilty and insecure that hes made her childhood difficult, because hes taken up so much air in the room from all of his problems. What are you going to do? Are you going to get a job? Or are you going to leave the house? I dont know. Im going to open that tattoo restaurant. No, like, for real. I am being real. Its never been done before. I looked it up. I googled it. Its never been done, not even as a joke. Because no one wants to go to a restaurant and watch people get tattooed while they eat. Its gross. Its the best idea ever. Ruby Tat-Tuesdays, where everyones welcome chicken and tattoos. What I like about this scene is its very real. Its very tense. And yet, both the actor and the actress find a way to be really funny in showing how their relationship melts down. In the scene, they talk about how Scott thinks it was worse for him, because he got to know their dad. And its easier for her, because she was too young to have gotten to know him when he died. Thats something that Pete Davidson talked about that, thats something that he debates with his sister. Who had it worse? And in a way, the scene is almost an apology to his real-life sister for not acknowledging how bad her pain was at times. We shot this scene over an entire day. We had rehearsed it a lot and done a lot of improvisations. One of the reasons why I wanted Maude to do it is shes very alive and very present, and so is Pete. And I knew you would feel it in her eyes every moment that she loves him, but also, shes so guilty about leaving the house.

View original post here:
'The King of Staten Island' | Anatomy of a Scene - The New York Times