Kieran Culkin is having another pretty big year. His performance in the Jesse Eisenberg film A Real Pain is getting serious awards season love — and who knows, we may even see him accepting an Oscar for it.
Now, if you’re familiar with who Kieran is at large, you know he’s been acting for a long-ass time. He acted alongside his older brother Macaulay in the first two Home Alone films when he wasn’t even ten years old. Here he is in Father of the Bride at age eight:
In a recent appearance on the Smartless podcast, Kieran revealed an outrageous experience with a director when he was just six years old — and it’s a bit shocking, tbh.
Kieran recounted filming a commercial that had “something to do with learning disabilities” as his “first professional experience” in the acting world. “The concept was I’m standing in front of a chalkboard with chalk in my hand and I don’t know how to solve the easy thing in front of me. And the kids in the class are supposed to be calling me a dummy and stupid, all that.”
“I have a distinct memory of being there and the director going, ‘Okay, action.’ And he starts going, ‘Dummy. Idiot. Stupid,’” Kieran recalled.
“I’m thinking like, ‘I get it. I’m six. Stand here and look sad. I’m not fucking Method. I’m six. What’s wrong with you?’”
Y-i-k-e-s. Here’s hoping that child actors are being treated better on set nowadays — although, as with all things in the entertainment industry, I’m not exactly an optimist.
You can listen to the entire interview right here.