Let’s hear it for the Roys!
Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong, who played on-screen brothers for four seasons on “Succession,” both scored Oscar nods in the Best Supporting Actor category on Thursday.
Culkin, 42, is nominated for his role as cousin Benji in Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain,” while Strong, 46, earned his after portraying Roy Cohn in the polarizing Donald Trump biopic, “The Apprentice.”
Other actors in their category are Yura Borisov (“Anora”), Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”) and Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”).
“This morning’s nomination is indescribably meaningful to me,” Strong said in a statement after the news.
“This film has been an uphill battle every step of the way and faced inestimable resistance on every front. It feels absolutely miraculous to me that both Sebastian and I were recognized. Roy Cohn’s long, dark shadow was hanging over the Capitol Rotunda on Monday and his legacy of aggression, misinformation and untruth is now a Kingdom Come,” he continued. “This is a harrowing and courageous film that explores how we got to where we are today and was the role of a lifetime.”
Taking a moment to acknowledge that this accolade was “a realization of a lifelong dream,” Strong reflected on being outside of an Oscars ceremony as a teen.
“I remember spending the night on cold metal bleachers outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1993 with my father to watch the actors and actresses arrive at the 65th Academy Awards,” he mused. “I remember being unable to sleep because of how exciting it was to be close to that world. I have not lost that feeling of excitement; I feel it every time I go to set or drive onto a lot or begin rehearsals.”
Strong added, “I have devoted my life to the attempt to do genuine work that would be worthy of this honor. I am filled with amazement and flooded with emotion and with deep gratitude to my peers in the Academy.”
Culkin, meanwhile, previously opened up to Entertainment Weekly about what drew him to “A Real Pain,” which follows a pair of recently reunited cousins (Eisenberg and Culkin) as they embark on a trip to visit their late grandmother’s former home in Poland.
“It’s very rare that I read something and I go, ‘Oh, I fully understand who this person is. I have no questions, and I don’t want to talk about it,’” he told the outlet in September. “I feel like I didn’t make the connection until after we each shot the movie, but it was like, I know somebody exactly like this, that I’m very close with. I read it and went, ‘Oh, I know how to do that.’”
Over the years, Strong has spoken out about being a method actor, sharing he depicts real people by getting to “absorb and learn everything and study them endlessly.”
“When I look at the kind of transformational work based on historical characters that I feel inspired by,” the actor told Deadline in January. “From Ben Kingsley in ‘Gandhi,’ or Phil Hoffman in ‘Capote’ or what I witnessed Daniel Day-Lewis do in ‘Lincoln,’ it’s about transcending impersonation and finding the essence in a deep, serious way.”
But his on-screen brother couldn’t disagree more.
In December, Culkin said during Variety “Actors on Actors” that he “object[s] when actors call themselves ‘storytellers.”
“I don’t really like that,” he said, before calling out Strong. “Sorry, Jeremy.”
Strong clapped back in his interview with Deadline, stating, “Lately, people have felt a need to take shots at me or say disparaging things, which I don’t really think there’s any need for. The way I approach things, my process. I feel we’re storytellers.”
This is Culkin and Strong’s first Oscar nods. Culkin, who kickstarted his career as a child star in “Home Alone” alongside his brother Macaulay Culkin, previously won an Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards: one for “Succession” and one for “A Real Pain.”
Strong, for his part, also won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for “Succession.”
