Eric André Reveals He Turned Down Kieran Culkin’s Role In ‘A Real Pain’: “Seems Like A Bummer”​on April 5, 2025 at 11:55 pm

A Real Pain (point) for Eric André is missing out on the eventually Oscar-winning role taken on by Kieran Culkin in Jesse Eisenberg‘s moving drama, about two cousins journeying through Poland while learning about their family roots and the Holocaust.

The comedic heavyweight revealed that the writer-director offered him the supporting part two years ago, reflecting ruefully on passing up the opportunity as it seemed “like a bummer” at the time.

“Do you wanna know a f—ing doozy?” he began, teeing up the reveal to fellow comic Andrew Santino on his Whiskey Ginger podcast. “Two years ago Jesse Eisenberg calls me, offered me the role that Kieran Culkin got the Oscar for. I was like, that seems really miserable and not in my lane. I read the script, I was like, to go to Poland for six weeks and shoot a movie where we’re just babbling about the Holocaust seems like a bummer, and I want to focus on—”

At which point, Santino jumped in with a joke, “That was the original title, ‘Babblin About the Holocaust.’”

André continued, “I was like, I 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 motherf—er won an Oscar for the role I passed up. And it’s not like I get offered roles constantly. I’m not f—in Leonardo DiCapric—.”

Best known for his surrealist Adult Swim comedy series The Eric Andre Show and roles in Abbott Elementary, The Righteous Gemstones, Disenchantment and 2 Broke Girls, André would have been an interesting choice for A Real Pain‘s Benji, a charismatic if unwieldy foil to Eisenberg’s strait-laced starring character. The sweeping film traces the two’s fraught yet loving relationship over the course of the trip, as they interact in polar opposite manners with a group of strangers on their tour of Poland.

For his part, Culkin has stated numerous times in interviews and awards speeches that Eisenberg hired him sight-unseen, at the behest of his sister, sans an audition process or having seen any of his projects. He also nearly dropped out of the project two weeks before shooting commenced, agreeing to complete it once producer Emma Stone stepped in.