Jesse Eisenberg spills on his ‘close’ bond with Oscar fave Kieran Culkin-Lillie Rohan and Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg are cousins on screen but close friends off-screen (Picture: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin’s friendship may be surprisingly similar to the one you share with your long-distance best friend.

The two actors have been longtime pals, both with lengthy careers in the industry. After starring in the heavily award-nominated film A Real Pain, they grew even closer.

But Jesse, 41, has now revealed that even though he is a friend trusted enough to accept not one but five awards on behalf of Kieran, 42, the reality of how close they actually are is surprising.

Speaking to Metro last night from the Baftas winner’s room, the star, who had just accepted best supporting actor on behalf of Kieran, said he likely wouldn’t hear from his buddy for another couple of weeks.

‘I love Kieran so much,’ he gushed. ‘In terms of our dynamic – I’ll text him today, “You won, I’m so proud of you, you won the Bafta Award. And then in three weeks’ time, my phone will buzz, and it will say, “Hey, just got this. Thanks.” That’s the closeness with which you imagine we live.’

He doesn’t let it phase him, though, and revealed that working on the film together – in which they play mismatched cousins David and Benji who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother – resulted in Jesse pitching a bold idea to his co-star.

Jesse has accepted five awards on behalf of Kieran, but probably won’t get a text back for a few weeks (Picture: Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)

‘So, like halfway through the shoot, we were in a room together, and I was just like, “You’re the most amazing actor. Is there any part you want to play that I could write for you?” And he goes, “Shut the f**k up. Who does things like that?” And I was like, oh yeah, I guess people don’t really do things like that. So anyway, that was my attempt at trying to work together again,’ he chuckled.

Jesse, who wrote and directed the film, also opened up about how he knew Kieran was perfect for the role of the free spirit Benji, admitting it was an encounter in 2008 that left a lasting impression on him.

‘Kieran and I never worked together, and I’d never seen him in anything – except in 2008, I was doing a movie called Adventureland, and Kieran came in to audition for a character, and he started attacking me in the room,’ he recalled.

It was a no-brainer for Kieran to be cast as Benji in the film (Picture: Searchlight Pictures. All Rights Reserved)

‘Some of it was kind of scripted or implied, and some of it was very much not. And then he was so funny in the room, and so brilliant and so dazzlingly interesting and mercurial, and made me feel embarrassed that I was so boring next to him.’

Jesse said when he was looking for someone to play Benji in A Real Pain, he needed the exact energy Kieran possessed in that room, someone to ‘overshadow’ and ‘charm everybody’.

‘I just had this memory of doing that with Kieran and being so dazzled by him, and I couldn’t get him out of my head.’

‘Now everybody else gets to see what I got to witness in the front row, which was just an unbelievably brilliant, complicated performance of some other character who is so many things at once, who is somebody who is so kind of tortured inside, but oftentimes it comes out paradoxically as charming charisma,’ he explained.

Jesse loved working with Kieran so much, he wanted to write a character specifically for him (Picture: AP)

The film has been nominated for 155 awards and has won 73 so far (Picture: AP)

‘There’s just no one on earth you can do that as well as him.’

Clearly, it was the right choice, as the pair have more than impressed with their onscreen dynamic, resulting in 155 award nominations and 73 wins so far this season.

Next, they have the Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 23, for which Kieran is nominated for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role.

Kieran is also nominated for an Academy Award for best actor in a supporting role and Jesse is nominated for best writer (original screenplay).

A Real Pain is in cinemas now.

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