It seems like fate brought Pete Davidson and Steve Buscemi together for King of Staten Island.
As Judd Apatow tells Jason Bateman in Variety‘s Director on Director series published Thursday, Feb. 16, Pete and Steve go way back.
For those unaware of Steve’s past, the Boardwalk Empire actor was a firefighter for the New York Fire Department before he became an actor. Then, in 2001, Judd said, “When 9/11 happened he went and he helped clean up Ground Zero and he stayed very close to the firefighting world.”
It was through this work that Steve and Pete first encountered each other, as the Saturday Night Live actor lost his father Scott Davidson in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers.
The director reveals that in the process of casting for the film, Pete brought this up, telling him, “I found a picture of me with Steve Buscemi in it.”
“He sent me this picture which is Pete at an event for the kids of fallen firefighters,” the director explained. “And there’s little Pete and in the background and a quarter of Steve Buscemi’s face.”
