Kieran Culkin “Manhandled” Jesse Eisenberg At An Audition | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

A real pain, uh, co-stars you with. Kieran Culkin as cousins and I saw a. trailer first. Mhm. before I saw the film as often happens. And the second I saw you and Kieran. together, I was just, oh, this is going to be. great. Oh, thanks. Because I adore both of you. I think. you're both fantastic actors, but you. also both. play very well different registers and. the two of you play these cousins who in.

many ways could not be more different. and it's for a movie that has a lot of. dark and meaningful subtext, you two are. so funny and real together. Oh, thanks. It's really beautiful. Yeah, it's funny cuz I hadn't like. really seen his. work ever. I mean, really. I I I just. had this instinct that there was no one. else on the planet who could do it. I. met him at an audition for this movie. Adventureland. I was already cast in the.

movie and he came in to audition for it. and in the audition he like literally. grabbed my nipples and twisted them. It. was. In the In the script In the script he. was supposed to like punch me in the. balls and a lot of actors are coming in. and no one touched me that day cuz there. was there was auditions, you know what I. mean? And like. And yet Kieran punched me in the balls. and then grabbed my nipples, twisted. them and was so brilliantly funny in the. audition that he didn't even get the. role, but he he actually actually wasn't. cast, but I remember he left. He wasn't. cast because he sexually assaulted me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we had There was a whole He had to.

do a little time. He had to go away for. a bit. And Screen Actors Guild, they do take. you back after. after a pro. after a pro probationary period. But. anyway, he. No, but basically like he he he left the. room and the director and I turned to. each other and was like, that was. unbelievable. This guy is amazing. And. that was like in 2009, I think. And I. just had this, image I think in my unconscious or this. feeling of being around a guy who's so. funny, who's so magnetic and who doesn't. kind of give a about at that point.

like being polite or being like the. obsequious auditioning actor of like you. know, so happy to be here. And a guy who. just immediately manhandled me. And it's. kind of what the movie is. Like in the. movie, I pay for the trip, I have the. family. lay it out for people just because. you know, I I never like to give too. much away, but it is a really. uh lovely movie uh and like a tone poem, but also it's a it's a it's a travel. story. It's the story of two cousins. that. um. you're taking this very meaningful trip.

Your grandmother. Mhm. who. uh in the story she survived the camps. She in Poland. And. uh she managed to survive. And so you. guys are coming back as part of this. tour to tour Poland, see some of the. sites. You visit a concentration camp. And then you go to see the home where. she lived. And this all sounds very. heavy. And appropriately there are. moments like that. But it's also you're.

two guys who are very different. You. used to be much closer. You've taken. very different paths. Right. And. he is so good. You're so good at being. um. in you know, kind of Felix and Oscar. way. You're so good at being. very high-strung and trying to hold it. all together. Right. And very responsible. And he is so. irresponsible in these very funny ways. And I was watching this movie thinking, well, there can be more movies where you.

two I mean you you can do you two. characters can do anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's just going to be funny. And. but there's also it's real. It's very. meaningful. That's so nice of you to say. And. actually the original script was set in. Mongolia. I was like 30 pages into the. script of these two guys going to. Mongolia to visit an old friend. new Hope and Crosby. That's it. You guys do traveling in old movies. Just look it up, kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a really good reference. Yeah, next week we're going to the. Orient, you know. But. it was basically like.

it was. Yeah, that it was And so like I had this. great dynamic. And then the movie this. Mongolia script was not going well. And. this is kind of funny, but like the. script was not going well. I was 30. pages into the script and an ad popped. up on the internet for Auschwitz tours. and then in parentheses with lunch. Jesus. god. That's what it said? Auschwitz. parentheses with lunch? No, Auschwitz tours. Auschwitz tours, yeah. With lunch. Yeah. With lunch. With I know, I'm getting it. I know. Should I SAY IT AGAIN? I CAN COME CLOSER.

YEAH, so basically. And I was like. First of all, I knew immediately what. the ad was for. I mean, but the implication of what the ad was. for, which was just, you know, you. wanted to do tours, but. The ad's a little tone-deaf. Let's Let's. say you can mention with lunch maybe. elsewhere. Maybe put an asterisk there and then. address the asterisk after you click the. banner. But basically But what But. actually what they're appealing to is. exactly why the tone-deaf why the ad is. tone-deaf cuz they're appealing to. yuppies who want to instead of going to. Rome this this this holiday, now you're. going to go to Auschwitz, you know, and.

you're doing your responsible tourism, which is a good thing to do anyway. But. as soon as I saw that I changed I took. the characters out of Mongolia and I set. them on this Polish trip. But that was. really the feeling is like you could. drop these characters in anywhere in any. scene and it will still be amusing. And. so like what you said, like they're. going to all of these places fraught. with, you know, the history of trauma. and yet the characters have like an. appealing bond that you can kind of just. repeat and and further uncover. There's also. this feeling that we've all had. There. are moments in the film where.

where. you're meant to feel something. Yeah. and you're not quite feeling it in the. same magnitude that you feel you should. be feeling it. And I thought that is. something we've all experienced. Where you go to a hallowed space where. you're learning about something and I. mean I'm a history buff and I've been to. many places where very traumatic things. happened and then you're like, well, we're going to miss the tram if we don't. get moving. You know, it's very weird.

It's very weird to lay the two on each. other. Yes, I've thought about this so much, not just because of making the movie, but because I do the same kind of. tourism. I've been to the Rwandan. Genocide Museum in Kigali and in. Cambodia, the you know, killing fields. I'm fascinated with this kind of. tourism. And yes, there's always the. weird part of it like we have to get. lunch on the way there or do we get bad. lunch because bad things happened here. or do we get the lunch we like because. we want to have the energy to tour this. place? And it's so weird. So in the. movie the characters are like kind of. trying to reconcile that.

disconnect, this necessary disconnect. Like. we're on the train going to a. concentration camp and we have first. class seats because the, you know, exchange rate in Poland allows for us to. have this, you know, we're on a yuppie. tour of Poland and uh Kieran's character. cannot stand the fact that we're in. first class, but like coach is not that. much better. You know what I mean? No, he goes he's, you know, he's saying. how you know, our people were put on. trains in Poland in this terrible. situation to be killed right.

and here we are. 70 years later. on a train with really cushy seats. eating this fancy meal in first class. This isn't right and he goes storming. off to go to another class and one of. the characters yells out, it's not going. to be that much worse. And so. to me the the beauty of the film is when. you can kind of dance on a knife's edge. between.

the darkness but also the the humanity. that is. people are imperfect. We don't always. feel exactly what we're supposed to. feel. It's impossible for us. you know, there's always someone in the. room who if you say, "Oh my god, there I. just bit into this sandwich and it's got. mold all over it. This is terrible." Oh, yeah? Well, guess what? Yeah, exactly. You know, I mean, I I had this, you. know, some people never got to have a. sandwich and they're dead. And so, you. can't always pull it. No, I still want the good sandwich. I. don't want mold on my sandwich. I'm.

sorry that someone else didn't get a. sandwich 800 years ago, BUT GOD DAMN IT, I want the good one. Yes, but also what if you did also have. this kind of residual guilt that other. people didn't have the sandwich and your. moldy sandwich is not something to even. have pity for. You know what I mean? Like there there could be a version of. you that goes like, "Oh my god, yeah, you're right. I'm feeling bad over. something I haven't earned." You know, like. Yes. Not that that's a good feeling to have, but I think. Well, I had a similar expe- You know, your movie is about because this is. based on something you've done. You and.

your wife, your family have taken trips. Poland is very important to you. Yeah, yeah. I mean, my family. you. I'm not asking you. Um I'm just telling you that Poland is. important. Are there any other countries I should. look into as being important? You're also into Guam. Okay. Okay, SO PROTECTORATES, YES. MAN, YOU'RE CHALKING UP THE points left. and right. Uh yeah. Um. But I mean, I I I know that that's. something that this is reflects part of. your life. Yeah, exactly. Like the house we filmed.

the movie at where the characters wind. up at at the end of the movie is the. house my family lived in up until 1939. And yeah, my wife and I kind of took. this trip, but not on like a guided tour. and went to all these cities. And all. the stories that the characters tell are. basically just stories from my family. I. just, you know, insert them in these. kind of, you know, fictionalized ways.