When talking about Pete Davidson, first of all, one must confront the elephant in the room. And by ‘elephant’ I mean ‘big dick energy’. He was, of course, the inspiration for the internet losing its mind after then-girlfriend Ariana Grande tweeted (then deleted) a reference to his own BDE. Although a huge star in the US thanks to Saturday Night Live, here in the UK we only really know him for his A-list girlfriends – including Ariana, Kate Beckinsale and Kaia Gerber.
‘It sucks that that’s what he’s known for,’ sighs Bel Powley, the London-born 28-year- old who co-stars with Pete in Judd Apatow’s new film, The King Of Staten Island. ‘He is so kind and generous. He’s the kind of guy who, if I was hanging out at his place in Staten Island, would drive me back to Manhattan, like an hour each way.’
Hang on. He still lives in Staten Island, the New York suburb about which there is a running joke in the film that it has never gentrified like Brooklyn? ‘Yeah, he has a man cave in the basement of his mum’s house,’ she laughs. ‘He won’t live there forever, of course, he is a grown man. Anyway, I hope people will get to know him now for reasons other than who he’s dated.’ And big dick energy? ‘Oh my god, I’d forgotten about that!’ she shrieks. ‘That was... a zeitgeist moment.’
Bel’s blue eyes widen and, even over Zoom, she exudes the sparkly gorgeousness of the born-to-fame. But it’s tempered with a dose of girl-next-door relatability. When I admire her Sézane denim shirt and gold earrings, she stands up to show me she’s wearing tracksuit bottoms underneath.
The daughter of an actor and a casting agent, Bel has been working since she was 15. Most recently, we’ve seen her opposite Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, which she describes as a ‘brilliant and terrifying’ experience. ‘I’ve grown up with those two, so was pretty starstruck.’ Did they hang out off-set? ‘Jennifer had everyone over
to her house,’ she grins. ‘We made pizzas and drank martinis and margaritas and danced around her fab house. It’s so stunning. I was like, can I just come and live in the pool house?’
They were 13 days into filming the second series when production shut down in March, and Bel made it back to London in time for lockdown. She has spent the last few weeks with her boyfriend, actor Douglas Booth, settling into a house they bought recently and dabbling in lockdown clichés. They had an unsuccessful attempt at making sourdough and did the 5k challenge (where you donate to the NHS and nominate others on Instagram) but, ‘I haven’t done TikTok or any of that.’ In fact, Bel’s been making the most of the time to slow down. ‘We live such fast-paced, anxiety-riddled lives, and people have been forced to stop,’ she says, adding, ‘Of course, it does not outweigh the negatives, but I have appreciated that element of it.’
It was through Douglas that Bel first met Pete Davidson. ‘He made a Netflix movie about Mötley Crüe called The Dirt with my boyfriend,’ she explains. ‘They became close during shooting, and then I did a play in New York so we hung out loads.’ That connection was important during filming of such a personal story: The King Of Staten Island is co-written by Pete and heavily influenced by his own life. Like Scott, his character in the film, Pete’s father was a firefighter who died when he was seven, hugely impacting his life and relationships. If that makes it sound dark, it is, but it’s also a finely balanced comedy as Scott’s petulant behaviour tests the patience of his long- suffering mother (Marisa Tomei) and sort-of girlfriend, played by Bel. ‘I admired him so much,’ she says, ‘seeing a friend put himself on to screen like that.’
The film will not be released in cinemas, due to the pandemic, but is now straight to video on demand. Does she mind that the audience will not get that theatrical experience? ‘It’s a double-edged sword, because I will miss watching it with an audience, but more people will see it this way,’ she says, matter-of-factly. ‘The world is going through so much shit right now, hopefully it can provide some laughter and distraction.’
‘The King Of Staten Island’ is available to rent at home now