LOS ANGELES – Kieran Culkin won the Oscar for best supporting actor Sunday at the 97th Academy Awards, completing a sweep of the category that followed his dominance in television awards last season.
The award, for portraying the chaotic but endearing Benji in Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain," marked his first win and nomination.
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Culkin thanked his manager, his mom, Eisenberg and his wife, Jazz Charton — taking the moment to remind his wife that he wants more kids.
“About a year ago, I was on a stage like this, and I very stupidly, publicly, said that I want a third kid from her because she said if I won the award, I would, she would give me the kid," he said, recalling his speech at the Emmys last January. After the show, “She goes, ‘Oh, God, I did say that. I guess I owe you a third kid.’ And I turned to her and I said, ‘Really? I want four.’”
“She said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar,’” Culkin, who has two kids with Charton, said to a chorus of laughs from the audience. “Jazz, love of my life, ye of little faith. No pressure. I love you.”
Culkin triumphed over nominees Guy Pearce for “The Brutalist,” Edward Norton for “A Complete Unknown,” Yura Borisov for “Anora” and his fellow “Succession” alum Jeremy Strong for “The Apprentice.” The category was one of few with a clear favorite ahead of this year's ceremony, after Culkin picked up the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Independent Spirit Award, SAG Award and a slew of critics awards earlier this month.
Written and directed by Eisenberg, “A Real Pain” follows cousins — played by Culkin and Eisenberg — on a trip through Poland for a Holocaust tour to honor their late grandmother. Culkin’s Benji is introduced as unfiltered but quick to connect. Eisenberg’s David is his rule-following, guarded foil. Oscillating between serious reflections on Jewish identity, generational trauma and mourning and the inherent comedy of mismatched relatives, Eisenberg’s script deftly navigates heavy themes with humor that lands because of Culkin’s ability to deliver it earnestly.
“Jesse Eisenberg, thank you for this movie. You’re a genius," Culkin said on stage. "I would never say that to your face. I’m never saying it again. So soak it up.”
It wasn't a sure bet that Culkin's Benji would make it to screens. When production on the final season of “Succession” ran long, Culkin considered dropping out of the film to spend time with his family. Emma Stone, last year's best actress Oscar winner whose company Fruit Tree produced the project, convinced him to stay on — by reassuring him that they could make it work without him, knowing that wasn't necessarily true.
“She let me off the hook completely,” Culkin told The Associated Press of his ex-girlfriend. “And I think it was the moment I got off the phone that I was like ‘Oh (expletive), I’m doing this movie.’”
Culkin’s film debut came at age 7 in “Home Alone,” where he played the soda-slurping younger cousin of his older brother Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister. His first major award nomination was a Golden Globe nod for the 2002 film “Igby Goes Down.” But it was his turn as Roman Roy, on “Succession” nearly two decades later that brought Culkin widespread fandom and acclaim, including a Golden Globe and Emmy Award for the series' final season.
“Sometimes people will say like, oh, you’re a lot like that character. I'm like, I wasn't until I did it, and now I feel like I took something with me," Culkin said of Benji after his win. “But I'd like to think that I'm a little more together than that guy. I'd like to think that I’ve figured some stuff out."
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