Following Kieran Culkin’s Academy Award winning performance in A Real Pain, Eric Andre was originally on tap to play Culkin’s role by Jesse Eisenberg himself. Andre was originally flattered to perform in A Real Pain, but he claimed he did not feel ready enough to take it and claimed how miserable it sounded. On the Whiskey Ginger podcast, Andre commented on this by saying,
“Two years ago, Jesse Eisenberg called me and offered me the role that Kieran Culkin won the Oscar for, I was like, ‘that seems really miserable and not in my lane.’ To go to Poland for six weeks and shoot a movie where we’re just babbling about the Holocaust seems like a bummer. I was like, ‘Appreciate the offer. I’m sure it’s gonna be great. I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for right now.’ The motherfucker won an Oscar for the role I passed up. It’s not like I get offered roles constantly.”
As Eisenberg wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy-drama about two cousins who reconnect over their grandmother, the movie might have been drastically different if comedian Eric Andre were to have been casted in Culkin’s role. In addition to Culkin’s Oscar win for A Real Pain, he also picked up an Independent Spirit Award and Screen Actor’s Guild award for the 2025 season.
Leave a Comment