Every now and then, a movie’s script might include a sex scene, which can sometimes make things potentially awkward for the two actors involved. This became especially true for The King of Staten Island’s Pete Davidson and co-star Bel Powley, who did everything they could to avoid the inevitable. Once they finally did the scene, Powley got a funny note from director Judd Apatow afterwards.
In an interview with the eponymous host of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Bel Powley talked about her role in The King of Staten Island. She mentioned that she knew Pete Davidson before working on set together, leading Seth Meyers to ask what it was like having a romantic scene with a friend. Here’s what the actress said:
I’m literally like blushing. Me and Pete have like one sex scene in the movie and neither of us wanted to even acknowledge it was going to happen at all. We were like, ‘Hey, that scene, we’ll worry about that later. And Judd kept being like, ‘We should talk about how we’re gonna do it.’ We’re like, ‘No, no, no, no don’t worry about it.’ He pushed it to the end of the schedule and the eventually got round to it. We couldn’t look each other in the eye all day and then we arranged to do it in like one shot, one take, just get it over and done with. We did the one take and then Judd pulled me aside, ‘We’ve gonna have to to do another take and I’ve got a note for you. Just remember when you’re doing the sex noises remember to still do them in a Staten Island accent.’
For those unaware, Bel Powey is from London, England and has a British accent. In the interview, Seth Meyers later added it would have been funnier if the backstory of Bel Powley’s character was that she was secretly English the whole time.
The King of Staten Island has received mostly positive reviews from critics, pointing out that it leans heavily on drama and is relatively light on laughs. It sounds like it wasn’t always that way though. According to Pete Davidson, his original script was more like a raunchy comedy until Judd Apatow came on board and crafted it into a drama.
Pete Davidson drew from a lot of his own personal experiences when writing the script, saying it’s a love letter to his whole family. And even though the movie is a drama, many of his fans still see him as the funnyman from Saturday Night Live. He currently lives with his mom, and after the trailer for The King of Staten Island was released, he said someone dropped off a bag of weed at her door and said, “I heard your son needs this.”
The King of Staten Island will be available tomorrow, June 12 on VOD.
