Written by Mackenzie Moore. Photo Curtasy of SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
On October 28, Vanity Fair held their podcast “Little Gold Men” Live at the SCAD Museum of Art Theater. The hosts, Richard Lawson and David Canfield, talk on the podcast about different films and occasionally have a guest. On this day, they hosted Kieran Culkin to talk about his film “A Real Pain.” Before he came out, the hosts answered audience questions regarding the film world and talked about some of the other films that they were excited to see and some that they had already seen and loved. Once Culkin came out, they really tried to not only cover his thoughts on this new film but also his whole collection of work.
Something that he talked extensively on was his involvement in the show Succession. He spoke about how much he loved the environment they created on the show. It was fascinating to hear at times that the actors were not sure where the cameras were, but they had trust in the people that were on the other side of the camera that everything would be shot in the best way. Culkin also talked about how when they went through a scene, sometimes they would do a take of the scene as it was written in the script, then they would do another take, all improvised. He said what he will miss most is the freedom that the actors had on that show and how it is unlike anything else he has done. At first, he struggled with the idea of working on a project and not being able to have such limitless boundaries.
When talking about his new film, “A Real Pain,” Kieran Culkin described what it was like to work with Jesse Eisenberg. He said it was an incredible experience and that he had a great time filming the project, but jokingly admitted that, at times, it was off-putting to have his co-star give him acting notes after a scene, which is not proper acting etiquette. However, in this case, his co-star was also his director. The film covers a beautiful storyline of two cousins reconnecting after their grandmother passed away and taking a trip to Poland to learn more about her past struggles while they are both dealing with their own struggles and pains. In the Vanity Fair interview and in the film, you will be laughing at Kieran Culkin’s fantastic comedic timing. It’s extremely easy to see how, with Culkin, it’s not the writing that makes the actor, but the actor that makes the writing.
