Kieran Culkin took inspiration from an unexpected source for his 2025 Oscar-winning role in A Real Pain — even if his wife helped him realize it.
The performer, who won best supporting actor on Sunday, told reporters in the Academy Awards press room that director Jesse Eisenberg‘s script was so tight that he felt he didn’t even want to rehearse his scenes.
“It felt different,” Culkin said. “It just felt like it was the first time I ever read something and went, ‘I fully understand this guy. I don’t even want to read it again.’”
The Succession alum went on to explain that he appreciated this “fun new approach,” as he felt the dialogue was flowing out of him.
“It felt like I knew who this guy was, but I couldn’t identify it,” Culkin said. “I didn’t want to analyze it because, right away upon reading it, I went, ‘I know who this guy is. I’m just gonna leave it and just do it.’ It wasn’t until almost a year later when I watched it that I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I know someone exactly like this.’ And I didn’t realize I was doing that.”
Evidently, the actor wasn’t the only person to notice the similarities to someone in Culkin’s life: “The moment I realized it, my wife leaned over — it was at a theater — and said his name in my ear. And I was like, ‘You’re right! I’m totally doing him.’ I didn’t even know. It was that kind of unusual experience. I’ve never had that before.”
Culkin’s wife, Jazz Charton, was also acknowledged during the actor’s acceptance speech about playing Benji, who travels with his cousin (Eisenberg) to Poland as a tribute to their late grandmother. Culkin, who shares two children with Charton, told the crowd from the Oscars podium that, in response to him needling her a year ago from an awards stage about wanting a third child, she had promised to welcome two more kids with him if he were to win an Oscar.
“I’m really sorry I did this again, and let’s get cracking on the kids,” Culkin quipped. “What do you say?”
Conan O’Brien hosted the Oscars 2025 ceremony from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. See the red carpet arrivals here.
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