Eric André Says He Was Offered Kieran Culkin’s ‘A Real Pain’ Role but Said No Because It Seemed ‘Really Miserable’ | Video
In an interview on the “Whiskey Ginger” podcast released Friday, Eric André revealed writer-director-star Jesse Eisenberg offered him Kieran Culkin’s “A Real Pain” role two years ago, but he turned it down.
“I was like, ‘That seems really miserable and not in my lane,'” he explained, a bit regrettably. Culkin went on to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year for his performance in the drama.
The project follows a pair of cousins as they tour Poland to honor their late grandmother a retrace the steps and history of the Holocaust. André said it seemed “like a bummer.”
“Two years ago, Jesse Eisenberg called me … offered me the [‘A Real Pain‘] role that Kieran Culkin got the Oscar for,” André said in the podcast, hosted by Andrew Santino. “I was like, ‘That seems really miserable and not in my lane.’ I read the script. I was like, ‘To go to Poland for six weeks and shoot a movie where we’re just babbling about the Holocaust, seems like a bummer.'”
Watch the clip below:
André appeared to mildly regret the decision, especially after Culkin was so successful in the part.
“I was like, ‘Appreciate the offer. I’m sure it’s going to be great. I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for right now. The motherf–ker won an Oscar for the role I passed up. It’s not like I get offered roles constantly. I’m not f–king Leonardo [DiCaprio].”
While the performance turned into critical and personal success for the actor, Culkin also admitted to trying to back out of the project after taking the part. While speaking with TheWrap at Sundance, he explained, “I did try to pull out of the film. I had just finished a long job … something you may have heard of, it was called ‘SUCK-cession.'”
“I remember thinking, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I going for five weeks?’” Culkin recalled. “I just wanted to be home with the kids, and just have time and wanted a reason to say no. So I re-read the script and just started laughing my ass off. I went to my wife and said, ‘Sorry, honey, I think we’re going to have to go to Poland.’”
Culkin co-starred opposite Eisenberg as Benji, one half of a cousin duo traveling to Poland to connect with their ancestral home following the death of their Holocaust survivor grandmother. Culkin’s character is a free-spirited foil to Eisenberg’s neurotic and anxious David.
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