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Kieran Culkin wasn’t 'fully inside' his body Oscar win
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Kieran Culkin wasn’t “fully inside [his] body” after winning his first Oscar.

The 42-year-old actor took home the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work on ‘A Real Pain’ on Sunday (02.03.25) but it took some time for it to sink in.

Speaking backstage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater, he told reporters: “I don’t know, I’m not fully inside my body right now but trying my best to be present…

“I have no idea how I’m feeling.”

Kieran previously admitted he had initially turned down the project because he didn’t want to be away from wife Jazz Charlton and their two children for too long, and he’s glad he had a change of heart.

He reflected: “The thing with saying no to the movie, it wasn’t for any creative reason it’s just the way the schedule changed and it was taking me away from my kids for a month so I was like, ‘No’. But then I got talked into it and obviously I’m very glad that I was.”

The ‘Succession’ actor made a quick connection with Jesse Eisenberg’s screenplay, but it wasn’t until the movie was released that he realised he’d based his performance on someone he knew.

He said: “It felt different, the script was incredibly tight, I didn’t wanna rehearse or talk about it or anything. First time I read something where I was like, fully understand this guy, I don’t even want to read it again, I wanna show up on the day and go ‘What scene? Oh yes, this one’ and the words got in here quickly because they were so well written, so that was a fun new approach.

“It felt like I knew who this guy was, but I couldn’t identify it and didn’t want to analyse it, I know who this guy is, I’m just gonna read it.

“It wasn’t until a year later that I watched it that I was like ‘Oh my God, I know someone exactly like this and I didn’t realise I was doing that.

“The moment I realised, my wife leaned over to me in the theatre and said his name in my ear. I was like ‘You’re right, I’m totally doing him and I didn’t even know.’

“That was an unusual experience, I’ve never had that before.”

This article first appeared on BANG Showbiz and was syndicated with permission.

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