Kieran Culkin for Port Magazine (2022)
You’re confident, often hilarious, but then there is another side to you that is introspective and analytical – the opposite of that guy. I think this is used in Succession and you could say that about your character, Roman Roy, too. But then, he’s also a mess… Do you watch the show?
I do, but I’ve never really concerned myself with how the whole thing fits together because I am solely concerned with my one thing, which is Roman. I don’t particularly care about how the audience is going to gauge the story, view it in its entirety – that’s none of my business. I’m just the guy; I’m protecting my character and trying to be as true to myself and to him as possible. I’m making sure to track Roman so there’s consistency, that I’m not doing anything that inherently contradicts what’s gone before. Sometimes Jesse (Armstrong) – who created the show – will ask me, “would Roman do this?”. And we figure out what makes sense, feels right. That being said, people flip flop all the time. They’re constant walking contradictions. So even though it completely tracks that my character has said ‘x’ all this time, he can change course, have different dimensions.
