Kieran Culkin‘s first professional acting gig was A Real Pain, to say the least.
On a new episode of Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett‘s Smartless podcast, the Succession star was prompted to discuss his inaugural filming experience at age 6 — a commercial helmed by someone who clearly didn’t know how to work with children.
“The concept was, I’m standing in front of a chalkboard with chalk in my hand and I don’t know how to solve the easy thing in front of me and the kids in the class are supposed to be calling me dummy and stupid and all that,” he said of the ad, which had “something to do with learning disabilities.”
The Emmy winner, who admittedly has a free-wheeling approach to performing nowadays — eschewing rehearsal, line memorization (often to the chagrin of his co-stars like Brian Cox and Jesse Eisenberg) and marks — said he has “a distinct memory” of the director calling action and launching into berating insults: “‘Dummy. Idiot. Stupid,’” Culkin recalled.
He continued, “Even then, I’m thinking like, ‘You know, I get it. I’m 6. Like, ‘Stand here and look sad.’ I’m not f—ing method, I’m 6. Like, what’s wrong with you?” The anecdote prompted disbelief from the co-hosts, who remarked that the experience sounded “traumatizing.”
“Wow!” Bateman exclaimed in shock.
Culkin and brother Macaulay Culkin have been in the limelight since before they reached double digits, with the two Home Alone actors appearing on Saturday Night Live as pre-teens. The challenge of child acting and transitioning into adulthood are subjects the duo have talked about previously.
Later on during the podcast episode, Culkin recalled a conversation with longtime manager Emily Gerson Saines when he was around 20 years old, during which he had a “panic” and when she used the term “career” to describe his acting. At the time, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue with a pursuit he had chosen at 6 to color the rest of his life. It was only until halfway through filming the first season of Succession that he reaffirmed his commitment to his craft, Culkin said earlier this year.
