The cast of 'A Real Pain,' Kieran Culkin, Jennifer Grey, Will Sharpe and Director Jesse Eisenberg stopped by The Hollywood Reporter's studio during the Sundance film festival to chat all about their new film which follows reunited cousins on a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother.
00:00There's a very like serene scene where we all sort of are taking a moment of silence and thinking about, you know, the past.
00:09And Kieran is so quick, right, and so good at improvising.
00:13And then at the end of this like minute silence where we're all, it's been a few weeks, like a couple of weeks by then, we're really deep in it.
00:20And Kieran just managed to do the most incredible far I've ever heard.
00:23And I was like, wow, there's absolutely nothing this guy can't do.
00:30What is everyone's favorite thing about Jesse as a director?
00:39Ooh.
00:40I like that I'm the not most nervous person in the room.
00:44That's true. You're right. That's a good point.
00:47He makes me feel calm.
00:48You're very, very close though.
00:51He makes me feel calm as a cucumber. Aw. Because he's so good.
00:55You're so sweet. Thank you.
00:57It's nice. It's interesting because it's like, it still feels like it's a collaboration, but he's, it stops with him.
01:05And you trust him because you know, I think the script was so well written that he has this vision.
01:12So we know that it's in good hands because it's with him, but it's also not, it doesn't have to be specifically what he wants.
01:18I think he was pretty open to talking to others. He had an idea of how it should be shot.
01:22But he reaches out to his DP for opinions for your producers.
01:26It was really everyone for pretty much every moment.
01:29Except me.
01:30At the time I had anything to say.
01:32Well, you want to go to a helpful opinion zone.
01:34I also felt like, um, you were very empathetic.
01:39I don't know if it comes from being so experienced as an actor, but it was, felt like you were always very tuned in to how everyone was feeling at any moment.
01:46Yeah.
01:47And was very sort of mindful of making us all feel comfortable and confident.
01:52So that was, you know what I mean?
01:53Well, I was intimidated by you because he's directed many more things than I have.
01:56So I was, no, it's objective truth.
01:59And so like, um, yeah, I was just, yeah.
02:01I was also felt, Kieran, we're doing scenes together and Kieran's feeling like, oh, the other actor is judging me.
02:06And I'm feeling that from, I mean, no one was judging anybody, of course, in any kind of room.
02:10Or everyone was judging everybody.
02:11Yeah.
02:12No, but there was that feeling because I've never, I've never done scenes with the director.
02:16And the moment would be like, cut, here's what I think.
02:18And I'm like, are you noting me?
02:19I got some stuff I can see.
02:22I got some stuff I can see.
02:23God damn performance.
02:24I know.
02:25That's my first instinct.
02:26I'm like, okay, come on.
02:27He's the director.
02:28You can really do it like that?
02:29Yeah.
02:30Yeah.
02:31I got one that he gave me that I remember you laughing at because I think you thought he
02:34was kidding, but he wasn't.
02:35He was serious.
02:36You were like, uh, you just went, okay, that was good.
02:37That was one of the best ones.
02:38There was a part in the middle that was very bad, but I liked the rest of it.
02:41Yeah.
02:42I wouldn't really call that a note.
02:43It's just something he said.
02:44Yeah.
02:45It's not really a note I can take.
02:46What was unique about this, I think, was that, for me anyway, it was my first time in Poland.
02:52And it's a very funny film and a lot of it is built on the chemistry that you guys had
02:57that I couldn't believe the first time that I saw you acting together that it was your
03:00first time acting together.
03:02And so it's a very personal story and it's welcoming to the audience, I think.
03:06But it's also obviously does walk through some profound landscapes.
03:11And so for me, I think it really felt like we were kind of, not in a deliberate method
03:17way, I don't think, but we were kind of doing this tour together.
03:20And particularly when we went to Majdanek, which is a concentration camp, it really did
03:25feel like we were being educated and we were sort of, so there was something about the experience
03:29of that, which felt very, that I was very grateful for, I suppose.
03:33Would you, if you were on a tour group, like, would you be in the position of group leader?
03:38Did that feel natural?
03:39No, I think I would be too neurotic even to join a tour.
03:43Right, I'd be out of it.
03:45Because I gathered from that, like, are you the kind of person that would be in charge
03:49of the gathering of, like, a dinner or something like that?
03:51Like, because I would never, I wouldn't even, like, look at my phone, but if somebody planned
03:54a dinner, I'll be there, but you seem like somebody who would.
03:58Would.
03:59Only if I'm specifically employed to do that.
04:02Okay.
04:03Got it.
04:04Understood.
04:05I don't think I'm a natural, like...
04:06It depends on the context, I guess, but...
04:08No, I don't think I would be the natural sort of tour guide, like, everyone follow me.
04:12But the thing that was so cool about what you did was, I saw your part in it, and I really
04:17was like, la, la, la, la, la, and like all the other stuff, and the la, la, la, la, la.
04:21And then when you did it, it was so magnetizing and hilarious.
04:27Yeah.
04:28Hilarious.
04:29I mean, I don't know how you got that comedy and that accent.
04:33The whole character, it was crazy watching it come out, and it became super amazing.
04:40Oh, thanks.
04:42I mean, it was a lot of fun.
04:43I mean, the biggest thing for me was that you let me do a northern accent, a northern
04:47British accent, because the read-through, we did it just in a normal kind of RP sort
04:53of, but something about it felt quite condescending, and I knew from our conversations that you wanted
04:59James to be somebody who had no bad intentions whatsoever.
05:03He really was obsessed with this history, and so that opened up for me.
05:08The day before we shot, I mean, Will concocted an entirely different kind of characterization
05:13and voice, and thank God, because it stands out as this incredibly sweet, vulnerable...
05:18Earnest.
05:19Earnest.
05:20Earnest.
05:21Kieran, have you even been, like, you've been on the road, like, we had awards shows,
05:24Emmys, did you come straight here?
05:25So it's like it kind of keeps happening.
05:26I did.
05:27I packed up my kids yesterday morning.
05:28Yesterday morning my wife took the kids home, and then I flew here, and yeah, I haven't
05:35had, like, a moment sort of rest thing, but I'm really looking forward to it when I get
05:38home, because even the last couple weeks I haven't really been much of a parent, which
05:43makes me feel like shit and makes me feel like I'm not me, so I'm looking forward to,
05:47I'm gonna turn the world off for about a week and just be a dad.
05:50Did you read the email?
05:51No, I did not.
05:52Like, nothing at all.
05:54I'm at all except just, you know, diapers and bath time and stuff for like a week.
06:00But there's been a double strike happening, which has been really lovely for me.
06:06I've been hiding behind it.
06:07I'm like, no work, fantastic, and I've just been home.
06:10The same thing happened with my first kid.
06:13I was home for the first whole year without a day work, because there was post-show stuff,
06:18and we were supposed to get started, and after six months, it was lockdown.
06:21So then, yeah, I ended up having to, so like, I get these, thankfully, these large periods
06:26of time where I get to just do that, and that's where I feel like I'm most me.
06:29So I get to have that for a while, because I actually don't quite know when the next job is.
06:33So I know that I have, after this thing, I'm gonna go right back into a few more months.
06:38I'm talking to somebody else.
06:40I'm about to start another movie next week, and I'm in New Jersey.
06:46Oh, right, right, right.
06:48And I just feel, like, very excited to be part of this movie, which I find so beautiful, meaningful,
06:55and all I want to do is work with people like these guys.
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