Why Kieran Culkin Didn't Go the 'Alpha Male' Route for Richard Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross

At one point, Kieran Culkin tried to back out of Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway. After years of working on HBO’s Succession—and then right after, on A Real Pain, for which he won an Academy Award—the actor was ready to spend more time with his two young children (who are three and six). But with Glengarry Glen Ross, he would rarely ever see them because his nights and weekends would be occupied. “As much as I want to do this play, I want out,” he recalled thinking.

Granted, Culkin didn’t actually say that. But he did ask if the schedule could be modified so the show was dark on Sunday instead of Monday. He got an immediate yes from producer Jeffrey Richards. "He just makes the environment really easy and nice, and creates an atmosphere where you can have fun and create," enthuses Culkin. "You don't always have that experience with a producer where they're like, 'Hey, we're here to support you.'"

Now, two months into the run for Glengarry Glen Ross at Broadway’s Palace Theatre, Culkin has found his rhythm as a performer and a parent: “I wake up, do a bit of a morning with the kids, and then take a nap for about two or three hours. And then I pick them up from school and get a little bit of time with them. And then go do a show," Culkin says while eating lunch at home, his three-year-old son napping in the next room. He then adds happily, "I'm enjoying myself. I'm in really good company."

That company includes Bill Burr and Bob Odenkirk—both of whom are making their Broadway debuts, while Culkin was last seen on Broadway a decade ago in This Is Our Youth. The Emmy winner hadn't planned on going back to Broadway, but then he got the offer for Glengarry Glen Ross. Having never read the play or seen the film, Culkin was immediately drawn to David Mamet's language and the character of Richard Roma—the ruthless real estate agent who will lie to clients and backstab his colleagues to get ahead. Culkin’s wily take on the traditionally hyper-masculine character (previously played by Al Pacino and Liev Schreiber) may be surprising for those familiar with the show and its “Always Be Closing” motto.

READ: To Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross Is a Comedy

“There were some people that were going in with an expectation of who this character is. Some people would say, like, ‘Oh, I wasn’t really seeing the alpha male,’” says Culkin. “If an alpha male was trying to sell me something, I would be very put off. So the way I saw it was, if he’s gonna be a successful salesman, how does he make the sale? He makes it by connecting with somebody, by kind of charming them, or opening up and showing some kind of vulnerability. To me, a salesman who swings his dick around and shows me how tough and how cool he is, I'm gonna be like, 'Ew, go away.'”

Culkin is similarly frank when he says he's not a fan of doing too much prep work ("I'm not gonna try to get a book"). Instead, he prefers to discover who the character is in the moment alongside his co-stars and the show's director. He is not afraid to play, even while the show is in previews. When this interview begins, Culkin asks me when I saw the show, because depending on the night, he was trying out different versions of his Richard Roma: perhaps he's calculating and cerebral in that opening monologue/sales pitch. Or, perhaps he goes by instinct.

This is what Culkin settled on: "He's trying to find the avenue to make this sale. He can't be direct with a guy, he can't go, 'Hey, I'm a salesman, and here's some property, and the property is good.' He's not selling him the property, he's selling him an idea. He's selling him what he calls 'the moment.' And so I thought: 'Hey, we're going to talk about disgusting things.' And he tries to bring up shitting, and that doesn't seem to work. So he then tries to bring up sex, that doesn't seem to work. So he starts finding these other avenues. And the way I was approaching it, the way I'm doing it now, is: I'm distracting with one hand, while the other hand is picking his pocket."

Kieran Culkin, Tavi Gevinson, and Michael Cera at opening night of *This Is Our Youth* on Broadway

This is a welcome return to Broadway for Culkin; he made his debut in 2014 in Kenneth Lonnergan’s This Is Our Youth, where he played a teenage delinquent named Dennis, who’s also a drug dealer. But for a period in his 20s, Culkin did mostly theatre. At that time, he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue to pursue acting. Having been working since he was seven years old, Culkin felt like he never chose to become an actor; his father, a former stage actor, had pushed him and his siblings towards the profession. "I sort of flipped out and ran away from the business for two years," he admits.

Though he stayed away from the screen, he did try out stage acting—to see if he was actually good at the craft, because he had never received training. And crucially, he wanted to see if he liked it. His credits during this time included the 2005 play After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo, which he performed at Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre opposite Anna Paquin. Or as he put it: "That's sort of the best way to continue doing what it is I'm doing while trying to fly under the radar, and hopefully nobody sees me." Granted, people did see him, since Culkin eventually earned an Obie for his performance in After Ashley as a 17-year-old boy struggling against his dysfunctional parents.

But what Culkin took away from doing theatre was something more valuable than awards: "Do the work for the sake of the work."

Culkin's longest theatre relationship was with This Is Our Youth, which he starred in off and on for 12 years, doing the show in London, Chicago, Australia, and on Broadway. He first played the main character of Warren in the West End in 2002. After finishing that run in 2003, he immediately wanted to do the play again; his performance didn't feel right in a way he couldn't articulate.

"For years, I was trying to get another shot at it," he says. He got another chance in 2010 in Chicago, playing Dennis, a role he had initially overlooked because he didn't think he was right for it. "I know I'm wrong on paper. Dennis is an alpha male, tall, athletic, very handsome...He walks in the room, and women's heads turn. He dominates the room."

Similar to what he's doing now for Glengarry Glen Ross, Culkin realized he could do something different for This Is Our Youth. He played Dennis with a narcissistic, psychotic edge; he also didn't have issues manhandling Michael Cera's Warren on the stage (the two are close friends in real life). Culkin's takeaway from This Is Our Youth: "It doesn't have to be exactly what you're seeing on a page. There's an avenue in if you can find it." He did the show on Broadway in 2014 until it closed January 4, 2015.

Though Culkin hasn't acted on stage in a decade, he's a frequent theatregoer, having seen his Succession castmate's stage projects—from Jeremy Strong in An Enemy of the People to Peter Friedman in JOB to Brian Cox in Long Day's Journey Into Night. He has a clear favorite though: Sarah Snook in The Picture of Dorian Gray, saying passionately, "It's the best performance I've seen on the stage, hands down." That's not a surprise; Snook is the godmother to Culkin's son.

On opening night of Dorian Gray, Culkin actually drove past the red carpet on his way to Glengarry. "My wife [Jazz Charton] went to the opening of Dorian Gray, so I was giving her a ride. She got out of the car, and I said, 'Do you want me to walk you in?' This is literally what happened. She goes, 'No, no, I don't want it to become a scene.'" Then moments later, Culkin spotted some of his Succession castmates on the red carpet; as the car was moving, he stuck his head out the window and shouted, "I loved Succession!" Laughs Culkin mischievously: "My wife was like, 'I just said, don't make a scene.'"

Despite his light-hearted nature, Culkin has gotten something of a reputation for playing morally bankrupt characters. Though true to form, he's not over-thinking it. "I don't know," he answers when asked what draws him to tortured characters like Succession's Roman Roy or Glengarry's Richard Roma. "I would say [Richard] is a very unhappy man who is quite desperate. He's willing to do whatever it takes, and even screw over his friends...He's trying to get out of whatever this life is that he finds himself in. So I find him to be extremely unhappy and unpleasant. I don't know what's appealing about playing that, it’s just well written. It’s hard to tell why I want to play somebody or do a certain job,” admits Culkin. “If I got a really great role where the guy was a lovely man and a good father, I would probably be drawn to that as well.”

But in the meantime, at least Culkin can be a good father in real life, saying as he departs the interview: “I have to run and pick up my daughter from school now.”