Kieran Culkin divulges Mark Ruffalo’s reaction to ‘stupid’ prank

‘Succession’ star revealed that he switched prop joints for the real thing while starring in an off-Broadway production when he was 17

Kieran Culkin has recalled how his co-stars and managers reacted to a “stupid” prank he pulled while appearing in a play when he was 17.

The Succession star first rose to fame as a child star alongside his older brother, Macaulay, in Home Alone and its sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

By the time he was a teenager, Culkin was well acquainted with life on a set but was also prone to creating mischief.

One memorable example was the press night of an off-Broadway production of the James Lapine play The Moment When, which he appeared in with Mark Ruffalo and the late Phyllis Newman.

Culkin apparently decided to spike a bag of prop spliffs with real marijuana, without telling his castmates, and later watched as Ruffalo took huge draws on what he believed to be a fake joint before passing it to his co-star.

By the interval, the entire cast was high.

“I’m like, ‘I thought this was a good prank. I’m stupid. Oh my God, I’m so sorry.’ But actually, they loved it,” Culkin recalled of the incident in an interview with The Guardian.

Mark Ruffalo made light of Culkin’s prank (Getty Images for Critics Choice)

“Mark says, ‘I haven’t smoked pot in 10 years; the second half’s going to be so much fun.’ There was this other actor who had never smoked pot in her life. She goes, ‘Is this what being high is? This is lovely.’ And then Phyllis Newman comes in and goes, ‘I haven’t smoked pot since the 1960s. Thank you, darling.”

Culkin provoked a different response from the stage manager, however. He said she came “stomping in” and demanded he hand over the joint, telling him: “Ruin your life on your own time.”

The actor – who is generating Oscar buzz thanks to his latest role in Jesse Eisenberg’s film, A Real Pain – revealed that years later he scared actor Colin Hanks by joking about pulling the same stunt while they were appearing in a production of This Is Our Youth in London.

“He’s like, ‘Are you f***ing kidding me? If you ever do something like that, I swear to God, I’m going to punch you in the face.’”

Kieran Culkin said he ‘knew better’ after getting up to mischief as a teenager (Getty Images)

However, Hanks – the son of Tom Hanks and his first wife, Samantha Lewes – apparently became more amenable to the idea towards the end of the play’s run, but became so nervous he was unable to roll the real joint.

“I was young,” Culkin explained of his antics. “I’m 42 now. I know better. I’m not going to try to get anyone high on stage.”

Last year, the actor shared how he had tried to get out of starring opposite Eisenberg in A Real Pain,which follows two formerly close cousins who embark on a Holocaust tour after their grandmother dies.

“I was finding every reason to not do it,” Culkin told Interview magazine. “I was like, ‘I’ll watch his first film, maybe it’s going to be terrible.’ I watched it, and I was like, ‘S***. It’s really good.’

“Well, let me re-read the script, I’m going to find holes in it. Maybe I was in a good mood when I said yes to it. I reread it and it was so wonderful.”

Culkin added: “When I finished it, I went to my wife and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, honey. F***, I have to go do this movie.’ It’s just too good.”

He explained that his reluctance was due to his determination not to be away from his family for longer than a few days at a time – A Real Pain was shot in Poland, while he and his wife own a home in New York.

Meanwhile, Eisenberg has said he had to throw out his playbook while directing Culkin, who is known for only learning his lines moments before shooting a scene and refusing to block scenes.

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in ‘A Real Pain’ (AP)

“I had spent months blocking out the scenes with Polish actors,” Eisenberg said. “Halfway through day one we had to change our plan. And it was completely to the advantage of the movie because Kieran is such a live wire.

“He’s such a spontaneous actor and he’s so brilliantly funny. To kind of hem him in with my pre-planned shot list would have killed the spontaneity and the energy of the movie.”

A Real Pain is scheduled for release on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV on 31 December.