VIDEO: Judd Apatow Discusses His New Movie THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND on THE LATE SHOW

Writer, director and producer Judd Apatow returned to The Late Show on Thursday night to share some details about his new film "The King of Staten Island" based on the real life story of its star Pete Davidson.

Apatow discusses the decision to release the film On Demand, saying, "When I finished it, it was right in the first inkling of the pandemic was happening, so I finished the movie, I color timed it, and I couldn't even shake the hand of the people who color timed the movie for me, and then it was done, and then the town shut down, and at some point the studio said, 'Do you want to hold on to it for, like, a year and wait for all the movie theaters to reopen? Or we can put it out on Video On Demand now.' I thought, you know, the movie is about first responders and firemen and nurses and all these heroes who risk their lives for other people and it's also about sudden trauma and grief. I hope it's funny. You wouldn't know, but I hope it's funny. I thought it would be weird to hold back something that might make people happy."

Watch the interview below!

Over his storied career, Judd Apatow has elevated a series of promising young comedy talents to their first major big-screen performance, including Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Amy Schumer and Kumail Nanjiani.

This summer, Apatow directs SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE breakout Pete Davidson in a bracing comedy about love, loss and laughter on Staten Island.

Scott (Davidson) has been a case of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He's now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow, HBO's Euphoria) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Oscar® winner Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys-Oscar (Ricky Velez, Master of None), Igor (Moises Arias, Five Feet Apart) and Richie (Lou Wilson, TV's The Guest Book)-and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley, Apple TV+'s The Morning Show).

But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr, Netflix's F Is for Family), it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life.

The film also stars Steve Buscemi as Papa, a veteran firefighter who takes Scott under his wing, and Pamela Adlon (FX's Better Things) as Ray's ex-wife, Gina.

The King of Staten Island is directed by Apatow (Trainwreck, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) from a script by Apatow, Davidson and former SNL writer Dave Sirus. It is produced by Apatow for his Apatow Productions alongside Barry Mendel. Together, the duo shared producing credits on the Academy Award®-nominated films The Big Sick and Bridesmaids, as well as This Is 40, Trainwreck and Funny People. The film's executive producers are Pete Davidson, Michael Bederman and Judah Miller.

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