Colman, Kieran, and friends

Colman Domingo is currently one of the presumed five actors to receive a nomination for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Sing Sing. Right now, according to prognosticators, there are four of them who seem pretty locked in: Adrien Brody, Ralph Fiennes, Timothée Chalamet, and Colman… with Daniel Craig, Sebastian Stan, and Jesse Eisenberg contending for that final spot. 

As I’ve been saying, one of the most fun parts of award season is seeing which celebrities show up for their friends. And yesterday, in London, trying to secure some BAFTA support, Colman had some help. Here he is with Sing Sing director Greg Kwedar at a screening hosted by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Andrew Scott. 

Earlier this week, at another screening in New York, it was Bradley Cooper who came out and moderated a Q&A. 

You can watch video from that event here. 

BCoop is a member of the Academy. Does this mean that Colman’s getting his vote? 

Colman’s Variety Actors on Actors session was with Kieran Culkin, probably one of the most anticipated pairings because, well, you know it was going to be chaos. And it was. They talk about their morning routines and, of course, Colman is more organised, a “real person”, as Kieran says, while Kieran’s the guy who gets up late, after his call time, and here’s the thing about Kieran – because there aren’t that many people right now who do what he does who can say, pretty nonchalantly, that he’s still sleeping when his driver arrives and not be labelled a dick online for it. Like if this was Jared Leto? Forget about it.

And yet, people are laughing, nobody is out here calling him out for disrespecting the schedule. I won’t lie, I don’t love it, but that’s not the point. The point is… details like this almost work with Kieran’s image anyway? It’s a little Roman Roy, the little sh-t disturber in Roman Roy that might exist in Kieran IRL, just not to the point of reckless destruction of other people’s lives. And he makes it entertaining. 

Colman Domingo to Kieran Culkin: "What time do you wake up in the morning?"

Culkin: "I don't...I don't think I've ever woken up at the same time two days in a row." #ActorsOnActors https://t.co/FPIk6ZHqGo pic.twitter.com/83N3vLvQfc

— Variety (@Variety) December 18, 2024

Where I do agree with him is the shower part. It’s what I’ve been screaming about for years. That I don’t understand how people get into bed at night without having showered. You’re bringing outside, the whole day, the world, into bed with you? Stop it. Where I disagree with him is waking up and getting right into your clothes and leaving without showering. Because one of the things that grosses me out the most in life is being able to smell people’s sleep musk. It happens every morning on the train for me – surrounded by sleep funk, it’s too much, I have to mask. 

But back to Colman and Kieran – it’s probably the most fun and unserious of all the Actors and Actors this season, nobody is giving pretention, and Kieran doesn’t seem like he has a lot of f-cks to give that he, currently, is in position not only for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work in A Real Pain, but considered the frontrunner to win. 

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE this film, in a way that surprised me, because sometimes, you know, Jesse Eisenberg. But it’s so funny and sad and bitter and bright, and uncomfortable and REAL, and for all these reasons, I’m thrilled to see that it’s very much part of the Oscar conversation and that Jesse and Kieran have been, not excessively, but have been campaigning. 

They were in New York together for a screening on Tuesday, introduced by Kenneth Lonergan so for sure there is support among the creative class for this project. And with four Golden Globe nominations, A Real Pain will be coming out right away in 2025 with some visibility just as Oscar voters are readying their ballots. Expect more Kieran madness during award season.