The captivating charm of Kieran Culkin

For 42-year-old Kieran Culkin, a visit to the building in Manhattan’s Yorkville neighborhood where he spent the first eight years of his life brings back unusual memories. “I remember my mother baking a cake and it came out at an angle because the whole apartment was at an angle,” he said. “We used to put cars at one end of the kitchen and let them go and watch them roll!

“We lived in a cramped space with seven of us running around. It was kind of a small wolf pack mentality,” he said.

His father “Kit”, himself a former actor, and mother Patricia, a telephone operator, raised their seven children in a four-room apartment. Kieran came fourth in birth order. “Every time the door opened to let the kids in, I would stand to the side to make sure, and I would count to make sure all six of them were in before I came in,” he said. “Likewise, when I was growing up, I remember I couldn’t fall asleep until they all fell asleep. Like, I only existed because they existed around me.”

He got into acting because neighbors of theirs ran an off-Broadway theater on the Upper East Side: “And they knew there was a family with a bunch of kids. And every time they needed a kid, they were like, ‘Um, you know, maybe we need a kid for this show.’ And my parents were kind of like, ‘Okay, what gender?’

Macaulay, two years older than Kieran, soon became world famous as the star of ‘Home Alone’. Kieran also had a small role in that film and a year later he played Steve Martin’s son in ‘Father of the Bride’.

Kieran was cute and charismatic. But to make it as an adult actor, I had to learn to act. He says that when he was 18 and starring in the movie “Igby Goes Down,” the director, Burr Steers, wanted to break him from his “child acting habits” – to unlearn the tricks that had served him so well as a child.

“He really didn’t like child actors, and he said, ‘You still have some bad habits,’” Culkin said. “He said, ‘You’re doing something with your eyes.’ He would say, ‘Soulful eyes.’ Or sometimes he’d say, “That was Nickelodeon,” or something like that.

And when that didn’t work: “He bought me a six-pack of beer and said, ‘I want you to take this beer and do the scene in front of the mirror.’ And I thought, ‘I don’t think I can do that… I’ll be too self-conscious.’ He says, ‘That’s what beer is for.'”

Culkin received praise for “Igby.” But he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue acting. For starters, he was afraid of becoming famous. “Absolutely. I feel like any rational person [who] If they experienced fame secondhand, they wouldn’t pursue it. It’s not a nice thing.”

His brother, Macauley, became an international movie star at a young age. “And I saw that and said, ‘Oh, I see. That’s terrible. Let’s never do that!'”

Kieran worked on stage and only sporadically on film for years before landing the role he is best known for: Roman Roy, the filter-less, fast-talking middle child who schemes to inherit a media empire in ‘Succession ‘.

But even as a member of the fictional Roy family, Culkin’s real family played a role. In 2008, his older sister, Dakota Culkin, was struck and killed by a car. He said, “After a few seasons on ‘Succession,’ I realized Roman did things that made me think, ‘Oh, that’s my sister. That was her sense of humor.’ She could find just the right thing to make fun of you and that would get to you, but be really funny and make the room laugh That was her.

Sixteen years later, the loss of his sister is still devastating. “I only knew who I was because of who my siblings are,” Kieran said. “So when I lost one, I lost a big part of myself. Losing one of my favorite people in the world, it doesn’t get any easier. But you get used to it.”

Culkin’s latest project is also about family. In the film “A Real Pain,” he and Jesse Eisenberg (who wrote and directed) play cousins ​​on a trip to Poland to see where their late beloved grandmother grew up – and the concentration camp she survived.

Culkin’s character, Benji, is a charming but directionless man-child…a contrast to Eisenberg’s stern family man.

When asked why he related to the role, Culkin replied, “I don’t really know what it was about me, but I went, I knew immediately who this guy was. I understood the dynamic and I really wanted to play.”

Describing the character, Culkin said, “I’m one little misstep away from being that person.”

“That’s good! That’s what I said? Good!” he laughed. “I feel like I could have easily gone down that path. There was something in there that I recognized as myself, but I’m not that guy at all. But I guess I’m afraid that I could have easily become that way.” boy, [had I not] married, kids, or figured out how to, you know, get my shit together.”

Culkin is indeed not ‘that guy’. He has been married to his wife Jazz for 11 years. The couple has two children.

When asked what he likes about being a dad, Culkin said, “Oh man, everything. Everything but dinnertime. Mealtime is a horror. I’ve seen some kids sit and eat, it’s amazing. My kids sit and eat breakfast, they “I do lunch, but dinner is just throwing things around the house, and that’s very stressful.”

Kieran Culkin may be at the top of his game, but he says he’s still figuring it out.

“There are different versions of success. I think success for me for many years has been working on projects that I really enjoy [that] no one really sees it. Fly under the radar, but keep doing what I do. And now I’m thinking, ‘Well, now I have to figure out how to do the jobs that I want, but also how to make money.’ It’s really hard to find the way to do that!”

One word: miracle.

To watch a trailer for ‘A Real Pain’, click on the video player below:

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Story produced by Julie Kracov. Editor: Lauren Barnello.

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