Jesse Eisenberg’s body road-trip comedy-drama, A Real Pain, stars Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as cousins with a fraught history. Culkin already won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for the role, and last night he took home the Oscar.
In usual Culkin fashion, his speech was irreverent and ended up censored due to repeated cursing. But it’s when he turned his attention to his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong that hearts began to melt. Evidently, despite rumors of a beef between them, the pair aren’t letting the bromance die.
Kieran Culkin shouts out his TV bro, Jeremy Strong
Strong was nominated for his role as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, and Culkin shouted him out in true Kieran-fashion. “Jeremy, you’re amazing in The Apprentice,” he began. “I love your work,” he continued, before letting out a curse word. The next part of his speech was censored out, but an ITV live stream revealed that he had immediately expressed regret for his x-rated slip-up.
“I cursed, there we go! I didn’t mean to,” he said.”I’m not supposed to single anyone out, it’s favoritism, but you were great.” Culkin went on to thank his manager of 30 years, A Real Pain writer and director Jesse Eisenberg (who he called a genius), and his mother and stepfather.
He concluded the speech with a hilarious call-back to his Emmy acceptance speech from last year, where he announced that his wife, Jazz Charton, had agreed to have a third child with him if he won. This time, he revealed that she had agreed to a fourth child that night on the condition that he won an Oscar. He concluded the speech with a cheeky, “No pressure, but let’s get cracking on those kids,” and the crowd went wild.
Long live the Hollywood bromance!
JEREMY STRONG AND KIERAN CULKIN HUGGING!!!!!! ENDING ALL OF Y’ALL WHO CREATED THE MOST UNNECESSARY BEEF THIS ENTIRE AWARD SEASON BETWEEN THESE TWO!!!!! pic.twitter.com/maiUJf0qB5
— abbey (@sophscession) March 3, 2025
Culkin’s earnest mention of Strong during his acceptance speech went viral. Topping it off was when the pair hugged tightly on the red carpet. This immediately squashed the unfounded rumors that the actors had beef between them. The rumors began when Culkin made a passing comment about Strong during his Actors on Actors chat with Colman Domingo.
Speaking on the art of storytelling, Culkin said, “I sort of object to when actors call themselves storytellers- sorry Jeremy,” referring to when Strong had called himself a storyteller during an actors roundtable.
Strong seemed to strike back at Culkin in January in a conversation with Deadline. “Lately, people have felt the need to take shots at me or say disparaging things,” he said. “Which I don’t really think there’s any need for. I feel we’re storytellers.” People ate up the beef quickly, considering how compelling the narrative was: former co-stars with different ideologies about acting. However, Culkin put all the rumors to rest with his easygoing vibe.
JEREMY STRONG BEING THE FIRST PERSON KIERAN CULKIN MENTIONS IN HIS SPEECH THAT’S LITERALLY FAMILY pic.twitter.com/luoTrPJCAg
— adrien 💘 (@evercornelias) March 3, 2025
From Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, to Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, bromances in Hollywood are still alive and well. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are the modern prototype, with three decades of friendship under their belt. Another fan-favorite duo is Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. The latter was another frequent name this season for his films, A Different Man and The Apprentice. Through it all, Mackie hasn’t hesitated to show love to his Marvel co-star.
Published: Mar 3, 2025 09:14 am