- Eric André received a call from Jesse Einsenberg offering him the role
- Script “seemed a bit depressing to me” – André
- He says it was the biggest mistake of his career
Comedian Eric André has revealed that he was originally offered the role played by Kieran Culkin in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain.
Read more: Macaulay Culkin ‘cried’ at brother Kieran Culkin’s Oscar win
As per Deadline, André revealed on the Whiskey Ginger podcast he received a call from Eisenberg with the offer. “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.”
Read more: Are Kieran Culkin and Macaulay Culkin close?
It’s a decision that the Emmy winner now regrets. He added “The mother****** won an Oscar for the role I passed up,” he quipped. “It’s not like I get offered roles constantly. I’m not Leonardo!”
A Real Pain’s official synopsis reads: “mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.”
Culkin won the Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance as Benji Kaplan in the indie flick. His first win at the Oscars. The role also secured the star a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.
A Real Pain script seemed depressing
André also spoke about being offered the role on a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He told Kimmel he had been sent the movie’s script and read a few pages before deciding he wasn’t interested in pursuing the role.
“I was working on something else when I read the script. I read the script. It was like 120 pages about two Jews babbling about the Holocaust, and that seemed a bit depressing to me upon first read.”
The comedian added that he felt unsure if the movie was right for “my brand”, but also admitted turning down the role was “the biggest mistake of my entire career.”
Eric André says reading scripts is like school in summertime
When host Kimmel questioned if he had really read all of the script, André replied “I read like the first 10 pages. Who reads a script? You know how boring it is reading a script? It’s excruciating. Feels like school in summertime. All the Adderall in the world couldn’t get me to read a single script.”
He joked, “I agree to movies, and I don’t even know what happens after the second act.”
André praised both Eisenberg – who directed and starred in the film – and Culkin, 42, calling them “incredibly talented”.
In his latest role, comedy legend André guest stars as Cedric, a janitor, in episode ten of Season 4 of Abbott Elementary, titled Testing.