Kieran Culkin wrapped up his virtual sweep of Hollywood’s awards season Sunday evening by winning his first Oscar, a supporting-actor prize for his work in “A Real Pain,” a film he almost declined to make.
“The thing is with almost saying no to the movie was, it wasn’t for any creative reason,” Culkin told reporters backstage at the Dolby Theater. “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. And then I got talked into it, which, obviously I’m very glad that I was.”
Culkin, 42, said he felt an immediate connection with co-star Jesse Eisenberg’s script for the film, which follows a pair of cousins touring Poland and exploring Jewish heritage in honor of their grandmother.
“The script was incredibly tight that I didn’t want to rehearse it or talk about it or anything,” he 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. I wanna show up on the day and go, what scene are we doing?”
He said his connection with the character of Benji was a unique experience.
“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.
“And the moment I realized it my wife leaned over, it was at 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. That kind of unusual experience I’ve never had that before.”