Kieran Culkin spoke about his Academy Award win for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” for “A Real Pain” at the Oscars Press Room.
The movie was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who also stars as David Kaplan, and Culkin plays the role of the free-wheeling Benji Kaplan.
Aside from Eisenberg and Culkin, the film features Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes.
The synopsis is: Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother.
The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
Culkin: A ‘different’ experience filming ‘A Real Pain’
For Culkin, when he was filming this movie, this role “felt different” than any other role he has previously done. “It definitely felt different,” he admitted.
“The script was incredibly tight, I didn’t want to rehearse it or talk about it or anything,” he noted.
Culkin continued, “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. I wanna show up on the day and go, what scene are we doing? Oh yes, this one. And the words got in here really quickly because they were so well written.”
“So that was a fun new approach,” he admitted. “It felt like I knew who this guy was, but I couldn’t identify it and 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,” he acknowledged.
“The moment I realized it my wife leaned over—it was at like a theater—
she leaned over and said his name in my ear. And I was like, ‘you’re right,’
I’m totally doing him and I didn’t even know. Oh, that kind of unusual experience,
I’ve never had that before,” Culkin explained.
Culkin was presented the award by last year’s winner Robert Downey Jr. His entire Oscar acceptance speech may be seen below.
Culkin on how it felt to win this Academy Award
Particularly impressive about Culkin is that he went from almost saying “no” to the role to becoming a first-time Academy Award winner.
On this feeling, he remarked, “I don’t know. I’ve already been asked that about three or four times in whatever span of minutes. I’m not fully inside my body right now. I’m trying my best to be present. I don’t know.”
“The thing with almost saying ‘no’ to the movie, it wasn’t for any creative reason. It was just the way the schedule changed right before we started. It was taking me away from my kids for almost a month, and I was like, well, I don’t want to do that,” he explained.
“Then, I got talked into it, which, obviously I’m very glad that I was. I have no idea how I’m feeling,” he added.
Culkin on the lessons learned from this role and film
When asked by this journalist what the role and movie taught him about himself, Culkin responded, “Oh God, that’s too heavy a question. I don’t know. I feel like
whenever I’ve worked on something important I end up taking things with me.”
Culkin continued, “Like sometimes people will say like, ‘oh you’re a lot like that character.’ I’m like, ‘I wasn’t until I did it,’ and now, I feel like I took something with me.”
“I would like to think that I’m a little more together than that guy. I would like to think that I’ve figured some stuff out, but I don’t. That’s my terrible answer to your otherwise excellent question. Sorry,” Culkin elaborated.
In other Kieran Culkin news, he will star as Richard Roma in the new Broadway production of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Glengarry Glen Ross,” which was directed by Tony winner Patrick Marber.
Please Note: This journalist was credentialed for the 2025 Academy Awards, and participated in the Press Room interviews with the 2025 Oscar winners following their wins.
