Kieran Culkin tried to quit ‘A Real Pain’ — then won Best Supporting Actor at 2025 Oscars

nypost.com:

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.