Kieran Culkin says director got too Method and called him 'idiot' on his first acting job: 'I'm 6'

In an anecdote that Jeremy Strong might get a kick out of, his Succession costar Kieran Culkin recently revealed that the director on his very first professional acting gig went a bit too Method.

Appearing on the latest episode of the SmartLess podcast, Culkin, 42, recalled to hosts Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman that he was just a kid at the time, and that the unnamed director called him an "idiot" to try to elicit a particular reaction from him.

"The first professional experience I had was a commercial when I was 6, and I actually don't quite know what it was for, but it was for something to do with learning disabilities," Culkin said. "I remember 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. The kids in the class are supposed to be calling me 'dummy' and 'stupid' and all that. And I have a distinct memory of being there and the director going, 'Action,' and he starts going, 'Dummy, idiot, stupid.'"

Amid bewilderment and laughter from the SmartLess hosts, Culkin added, "Even then I'm thinking like, you know, I get it. Stand here and look sad. I'm not f---ing Method. I'm 6. Like, what's wrong with you?"

Culkin, who won an Emmy earlier this year for his role as black sheep sibling Roman Roy on Succession, began his career as a child actor, making his movie debut in 1990's Home Alone alongside his brother Macaulay Culkin. He reprised his role as Pepsi-obsessed cousin Fuller in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and also starred in the Father of the Bride movies.

Culkin is currently garnering Oscar buzz for his performance in Jesse Eisenberg's dramedy A Real Pain. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Culkin admitted to Eisenberg that he actually "had no idea" what Home Alone was about while filming it.

"I was at the premiere, and I was dying laughing," Culkin said. "It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. I had no idea what the movie was about."

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"How could no one explain to you?" Eisenberg replied. "You're on set 15 hours a day."

"'Drink this Coke, wear the glasses, say the thing that you memorized, look cute and go home,'" Culkin said. "Devin Ratray, the guy who plays Buzz, lied to me and told me the movie was all about him. And I believed him. And then when I saw it, the movie’s cracking me up, and I go, 'Mac was on set all the time. That makes sense the movie would be about him.'"