A case of cold feet.
Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Actor at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday for his role in Jesse Eisenberg’s movie, “A Real Pain,” a victory that wouldn’t have been achieved if the star had his way.
Culkin’s performance nabbed him some of the most coveted acting prizes this awards season, including a Golden Globe, SAG Award and Critics’ Choice Award. But just two weeks before production was set to begin, the “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” star, 42, tried to quit to spend more time with his family after filming on the final season of “Succession” ran longer than expected.
It took one of the film’s producers, two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone, 36, who also happens to be Culkin’s ex-girlfriend, to convince him not to back out.
Directed by Eisenberg, “A Real Pain” follows mismatched cousins David and Benji as they tour Poland to honor their grandmother. Their adventure becomes complicated as old tensions resurface while exploring their family history.
Or, as Eisenberg put it, Stone had to blackmail him.
“[Kieran] was trying to drop out of the movie two weeks before we were shooting,” Eisenberg, who also stars alongside Culkin in “A Real Pain,” told the audience at a screening of the flick at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January, according to Collider.
The “Social Network” star, 41, continued, “Like all the money had been spent, and he was trying to drop out in New York. So one of our producers, Emma Stone, essentially like blackmailed him to come back to the movie behind my back, and literally took him off the plane with his kids and flew to Poland with him.”
“I have a video of her holding his kid’s hands going through customs like a proof of life video that he made it, and he showed up to rehearsal late, even though we had made the rehearsal around when his plane was getting in.”
Eisenberg has also likened the situation to “a hostage swap.”
Culkin and Stone dated from 2010 to 2011 after meeting on the set of the 2009 movie “Paper Man.” Though their romance didn’t last, their friendship did. As Culkin told the AP, Stone used their friendship to her advantage, deploying “reverse psychology” to keep him aboard the project.
“She let me off the hook completely,” Culkin said, explaining that she was understanding and supportive when he called to tell her he was quitting. Stone also told her ex that the whole movie was going to fall apart without him (Eisenberg was already in Poland scouting locations). But that wasn’t his problem, she said, assuring him that she’d deal with it.
“And I think it was the moment I got off the phone that I was like, ‘Oh f–k, I’m doing this movie,’” Culkin added.
Eisenberg didn’t learn that Culkin tried to quit until the film played at the Sundance Film Festival.
“I was infuriated,” he told Vogue. “But the more I got to know him, the more I understood that he just kind of lives in this way that is totally unusual in an industry riddled with eager obsequiousness.”
The director knew little about Culkin before they worked together. The pair had only met twice, as Eisenberg revealed to talk show host Graham Norton last December, and it was his sister who convinced him to cast Culkin without any proof of his bona fides.
“For those of you who don’t know, he cast me in this without auditioning me or ever seeing my work, which he thinks is normal and I can’t even get into how annoyingly wrong he is,” Culkin said in his SAG Awards acceptance speech earlier this month.
“But he cast me because his sister told him to. He puts a lot of faith in her, which is really sweet, but dumb, so yes, thank you Jesse for putting me in this movie, but I want to take a moment to thank your sister, Hallie. Thank you Hallie for thinking of me and putting my name in your stupid brother’s ear.”
Culkin has another reason to be grateful to Hallie for helping him get the part and to Emma for preventing him from quitting: his Oscar win might just net him the fourth child he wants to have with his wife Jazz Charton, 36.
“I wanna really, I love you, Jazz. This is, I have to thank my wife Jazz, for absolutely everything, for giving my favorite people in the world,” Culklin said onstage Sunday night, clutching his Oscar. “This is — please don’t play the music because I want to tell a really quick story about Jazz.”
“About a year ago I was on a stage like this and I very stupidly, publicly said that I want a third kid from her because she said if I won the award, I would, she would give me the kid. It turns out she said that because she didn’t think I was gonna win,” he recalled, referring to his win for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role in “Succession,” which he won at the 75th Emmys last January.
Culkin continued, “After the show we’re walking through a parking lot, she’s holding the Emmy, we’re trying to find a car. Emily, you were there, so you’re a witness, and she goes, ‘Oh God, I did say that. I guess I owe you a third kid,’ and I turned to her and I said, ‘Really I want four.’”
“And she turned to me, I swear to God this happened, it was just over a year ago, she said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar,’” he added. “I held my hand out, she shook it, and I have not brought it up once until just now.”
He finished by saying, “You remember that, honey? You do? Then I just have this to say to you, Jazz, love of my life, ye of little faith. No pressure. I love you. I’m really sorry I did this again. And let’s get cracking on those kids. What do you say? I love you!”
