Pete Davidson pushed to have Judd Apatow's daughter play a key role in 'The King of Staten Island'

• Judd Apatow told Insider he didn't initially have his daughter, Maude, in mind to star in "The King of Staten Island."
• Apatow said that it was Pete Davidson who had her in mind to play his sister in the movie.
• The director finally decided to give his daughter the role after she auditioned for the part and saw how funny she and Davidson were together.
• Maude has been building a career in acting since showing up as a kid with her sister Iris in their dad's movies like "Knocked Up" and "This is 40."
• She's also in HBO's "Euphoria" and Netflix's "Hollywood."

Though Judd Apatow has put his daughter Maude in his movies in the past, he says he didn't think of her at first when casting his latest movie, "The King of Staten Island."

The comedy (available On Demand on Friday) is a loose semi-autobiographical look at Pete Davison's life growing up in Staten Island and one key role is his younger sister Claire. She is leaving for college when the movie starts and though she loves her brother she can't get over how unmotivated he is. Despite her age, she's the wiser older sibling.

It's certainly a scene-stealing role if it's cast correctly and Apatow admits it wasn't him but Davidson who knew Maude could play Claire, saying the young comic knew back when they were still writing the script that she would be right.

"Pete was a real proponent of her," Apatow told Insider. "But we read a bunch of people. I wanted to make sure that they appeared like brother and sister. He's from Staten Island and Maude is from Santa Monica, they had to have that personal chemistry."

Finally, Apatow had his daughter come in and read for the part, and he said it was instant that she and Davidson were funny together.

"This is a character that is very different from Maude," Apatow said. "But I also thought she would understand the sibling rivalry of it."

Maude, 22, and her younger sister, 17-year-old Iris, both starred in Apatow's movies "Knocked Up," "Funny People," and "This is 40." In all three they also starred opposite their mom, actress Leslie Mann. Apatow said back then everything Maude and her sister did in the movies was improvised, so this is really the first time he's worked with her where she's playing a part.

"She makes you laugh, but you feel her concern and her pain when she leaves for college," Apatow said of Maude playing the Claire character in "The King of Staten Island." "She's leaving her brother alone with their mom and it's probably not going to go well."

Maude recently told Variety she was happy she had to audition for the role.

"I always want to make sure I can prove myself and that I'm right for it and that it's not just given to me," she said.

Before "The King of Staten Island," Maude had been building an impressive reel. In 2016 she starred in the acclaimed indie "Other People." A few years later she got a role in another hit indie, "Assassination Nation," from director Sam Levinson, who then cast her in his HBO series "Euphoria," where she plays Lexi Howard. She can now be seen in Ryan Murphy's Netflix series, "Hollywood."

"I'm blown away by all her work," said Apatow with the typical proud dad answer when asked if there's a specific role of her's that has really impressed him.

"She touches you but at the same time she has a real comic edge to her as an actress and that's my favorite style of acting," he said. "She gets a lot of that from her mom who has always been so amazing at playing things truthfully and even the scenes that are tough she finds a way to make them very funny at the same time."