The Surprising Actor Who Turned Down Kieran Culkin’s Oscar-Winning A Real Pain Role

Kieran, on the other hand, had an immediate connection to the character, Benji—as well as the script itself.

In fact, after winning his Academy Award in March, he told reporters in the press room that it was “the first time I ever read something and went, ‘I fully understand this guy.’”

“It felt like I knew who this guy was, but I couldn’t identify it,” he continued. “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.”

But even so, the 42-year-old—who shares kids Kinsey, 5, and Wilder, 3, with wife Jazz Charton—nearly left the project behind ahead of production.

“It wasn’t for any creative reason,” Kieran explained. “It was just the way the schedule changed right before we started, it was taking me away from my kids for almost a month.”

“I was like, ‘Well, I don’t want to do that,’” he recalled. “Then I got talked into it, which, obviously, I’m very glad that I was.”

To see more of Kieran’s iconic roles throughout the years, keep reading.