Kieran Culkin Remembers Director Calling Him a ‘Dummy’ During His First Acting Job: ‘I'm 6. What's Wrong With You?’

Kieran Culkin might be an award-winning actor, but his career had a less-than-auspicious start.

On the Dec. 23 episode of the Smartless podcast, the 42-year-old actor opened up about his very first acting job — and how things quickly went off the rails.

“First professional experience I had was a commercial when I was 6,” he told hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. He said he didn’t remember what the commercial was for, but it had “something to do with learning disabilities.”

“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,” he explained. “And the kids in the class are supposed to be calling me a dummy and stupid, all that.”

But that’s not exactly what happened. “I have a distinct memory of being there and the director going, ‘Okay, action.’ And he starts going, ‘Dummy. Idiot. Stupid.’ "

The Smartless hosts were shocked. The A Real Pain star said that even at the time he thought it was a bizarre thing for the director to do. “I'm thinking like, ‘I get it. I'm 6. Stand here and look sad. I'm not f------ method. I'm 6. What's wrong with you?’ ”

Related: Kieran Culkin Reveals Why He Hasn't Allowed Either of His 2 Kids to Watch Home Alone

Culkin’s other early acting credits were less traumatizing. In 1990, he appeared alongside his older brother Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. He returned for 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Culkin also starred alongside Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in 1991’s Father of the Bride and 1995’s Father of the Bride Part II.

Culkin also appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1991 when his older brother, now 44, hosted. The Succession star ended up hosting the comedy series himself in 2021. “It was one of those things I thought would never, ever happen,” he told the Smartless hosts about the honor. “I'm not very ambitious. I don't have these big aspiring dreams, but hosting SNL was one.” The other dream — still unfulfilled, he noted — is doing a voice on The Simpsons.

Related: 5 of the McCallister Kids From Home Alone Reunite For the First Time in 30 Years

Earlier this month, Culkin told the Los Angeles Times that he didn’t actually know what Home Alone was about when he filmed it. "I had no idea what that movie was about when I saw it, and I was in it,” he said. “I was at the premiere, and I was dying laughing. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. I had no idea what the movie was about.”

He said all he remembered being told on set was, "Drink this Coke, wear the glasses, say the thing that you memorized, look cute and go home."

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He didn’t even realize his brother was the star. “Devin Ratray, the guy who plays Buzz, lied to me and told me the movie was all about him," he explained. "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.’ ”

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