Recent off an airplane and midway via a double bacon-egg-and cheese, Kieran Culkin is low on sleep and loaded with espresso. “There’s a catastrophe occurring inside my physique proper now,” he tells me. Why? Effectively, should you’re Culkin, cross-country journey is for motion pictures, stay awake. “I watched the second Suicide Squad, which individuals advised me was good and so they had been proper,” the 42-year-old actor says. “Anyway, that’s our time. Hope you bought every part you wanted.”
Final week, the previous Succession actor and star of the Oscar-nominated indie drama A Actual Ache hopped on a name with me after serving to his children prepare for college. Culkin simply received a Golden Globe for Greatest Supporting Actor in a movie he made with Jesse Eisenberg—and he as soon as thought that nobody would ever see it. Now he’s buzzing on the alternative for an Oscar.
“I didn’t count on anyone to look at it,” he says. “I assumed it was going to be this factor that Jesse and I assumed was cool. I keep in mind my supervisor on the time, she goes, ‘That is completely your resolution. That is one you do it for you. At greatest, it’s a film that goes to Sundance that about 30 individuals see, and that’s it.’ That’s what she advised me.”
Culkin has one other particular look deliberate earlier than the Academy Awards in March: his first Super Bowl commercial. The actor voices a beluga whale in an upcoming spot for NerdWallet. He’s a type of individuals at a Tremendous Bowl celebration who quiets down when the commercials play in the course of the large sport, so yeah—he’s excited to hitch the good canon of Tremendous Bowl adverts himself.
“It’s not like I’ve ever watched the adverts going, I hope I’m in a type of. However now that that’s taking place, there’s some good pleasure and anticipation there,” he says. “I’ve a remedy session in 33 minutes. So she’ll ask me what I’m feeling in my physique, after which I’ll know. Then I’ll textual content you.”
Under, Culkin shares extra about his first-ever Tremendous Bowl industrial, his position in A Actual Ache, and which staff he’ll root for on Sunday evening.
Kieran Culkin received Greatest Supporting Actor on the 2025 Golden Globes for his position in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Actual Ache.
ESQUIRE: You mentioned you thought 30 individuals would see A Actual Ache, however I used to be within the theater on the Sundance premiere final January and it was a packed home.
KIERAN CULKIN: No shit! That’s cool. I had seen it in a screening room, so it was onerous to gauge what sort of film it was till I noticed it with an viewers. I assumed, This speaks to me however in all probability received’t converse to anybody else, so nobody’s going. I didn’t suppose that it will usually join with individuals. Superior.
I do know you’re a wrestling fan, however are you leaning in any explicit route for the Tremendous Bowl?
Go Knicks? No, I do not know who’s enjoying, however I do watch the Tremendous Bowl just about yearly, largely simply to see the adverts. I’m a type of People.
Most individuals don’t wish to see a single industrial till the Tremendous Bowl—after which all they wish to do is watch the commercials.
Isn’t that humorous? It has simply been constructed into the tradition for therefore lengthy. As a result of after I was a little bit child, it wasn’t such a giant deal, nevertheless it did occur in my later childhood. Final 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl, we went over to a buddy’s home. I’ve younger children. So we invited mates with younger children to simply have a child celebration. However we ended up chatting whereas the sport was on, and when it will lower to industrial, we’d get quiet and take a look at the display like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard about this advert.’ Isn’t that loopy? In all probability lower than half the viewers needs to see the sport and the bulk are there to see the halftime present and the commercials. You simply hope that yours is the standout.
Culkin voices a beluga whale in NerdWallet’s 2025 Tremendous Bowl industrial.
Do you suppose individuals will acknowledge your voice?
It’s doable. My spouse is fucking wonderful at this. She will establish the voice of anyone. Anyone that hasn’t been on TV in 30 years, she’s like, increase. If she might monetize this talent, I might by no means need to work once more. I’m full shit at it. Some individuals may acknowledge my voice, however I even have 4 brothers that sound precisely like me, so it might simply be certainly one of them, too.
Did you apply whale noises, or was it excellent off the dome?
Really, within the script there was one thing that mentioned “whale noise,” and I used to be like, “I don’t suppose I wish to do this.” As a result of to me what was humorous about it was how conversational it was. It was simply two guys. It might have simply taken place on the sidewalk. However then after I acquired within the sales space, they mentioned, “Attempt it.” I confirmed it to my spouse and he or she fell over laughing.
The industrial feels very Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy to me.
That’s an awesome comparability. I really like that. As a result of with Hitchhiker’s Information, my first thought was the large blue whale that’s falling out of the sky and also you hear its ideas. It’s the most effective a part of the film.
Do you suppose Pedro Pascal is on the market making a industrial simply to compete with yours?
Effectively, I suppose we’re going to have to look at a soccer sport to search out out, proper?