Like so many rampantly successful entities before it, SXSW Film appears to have improbably fallen for Pete Davidson: The festival announced today that the Saturday Night Live star’s semi-autobiographical new film, King Of Staten Island, is scheduled to open this year’s fest. Directed by Judd Apatow, the film stars and was co-written by Davidson, and centers on a young man in his whatever-age-Pete-Davidson-is’s who’s living at home with mother Marisa Tomei. As The New York Times notes, the film is Apatow’s first narrative film since he released Trainwreck back in 2015; he’s spent the intervening five years working and producing mostly in TV, including on series like Crashing and Love.
Other early highlights at this year’s fest, which kicks off on March 13: Frank Oz-filmed magic show In & Of Itself, Eric André’s hidden camera prank movie Bad Trip, She Dies Tomorrow from Amy Seimetz, John Leguizamo’s teaching drama Critical Thinking, and many more. The fest will also play host to new films from Michael Showalter, Alex Winter, Kris Rey, and numerous others, as well as first glimpses at TV shows like TNT’s Snowpiercer series and Central Park, the new animated musical comedy from Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard.