Kieran Culkin missed out on another chance to collect a prestigious award on Sunday night, with his A Real Pain co-star Jesse Eisenberg accepting his BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in his absence.
And it’s now been revealed that reason he could not attend the glitzy ceremony was due to the same issue which previously threatened his entire involvement in the film
The honour became the fifth that the film’s director and writer has picked up on Kieran’s behalf and Jesse initially made a quip about the trend to a full house at The Royal Festival Hall in London.
‘Hi, thanks again,’ he said. ‘This is also the fifth award I’ve accepted on Kieran’s behalf.
‘It confirms what I’ve thought which is that we share the same life but his is about 27% better than mine.’
Jesse, 41, who also plays the film’s lead David Kaplan, then revealed the real reason for his colleague’s repeated absences.
Kieran Culkin (pictured, left, in A Real Pain) missed out on another chance to collect a prestigious award on Sunday night, as co-star Jesse Eisenberg (right) accepted his BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor
It became the fifth gong that the film’s director and writer picked up on Kieran’s behalf and Jesse initially made a quip about the trend to a full house at the glitzy ceremony
He said: ‘Kieran would love to be here, we spoke this morning. He is in New York with a family member who is quite sick.
‘He is so devoted as a dad that he tried to drop out of my movie two weeks before we started shooting because he didn’t want to leave his kids.
‘It’s real, it’s beautiful and it’s admirable his devotion to his family.
‘He is one of these lovely people who is brilliantly talented, but who for some random luck of the cosmos, has his priorities in order.’
Kieran, 42, also gave an insight into the film’s hectic development on the Graham Norton Show in December, admitting that he made a last-minute bid to pull out of the project after going through a bizarre casting process.
‘He cast me without auditioning me or seeing me in anything, ever,’ he told Graham. ‘He goes, “yeh that’s fine I’m aware of you, I’ve met you before” – we’ve met twice before.’
Jesse responded: ‘He has an essence – look at his essence. I don’t know how else to describe it other than it felt exactly right. He’s amazing.’
Kieran then revealed, ‘At one point I did try to back out of this film. Whoops’, to which Jesse added, ‘two weeks before we sH๏τ, not “at one point”.’
Kieran told Graham Norton (and Daniel Craig, Nicola Coughlan and Jesse Eisenberg, pictured L-R) in December about the issue which threatened his entire involvement in the movie
Later in the evening Jesse also collected Best Original Screenplay gong and shared an emotional speech on the stage
His co-star explained: ‘He didn’t know that. They kept him in the dark about the me trying to get out of the movie thing. Glad I didn’t…You made a good movie.’
The Succession star was awarded the gong for his performance as Benji Kaplan in the film, beating off compeтιтion from his Succession screen brother Jeremy Strong, as well as Edward Norton, Yura Borisov, Guy Pearce and Clarence Maclin.
Read More BAFTAs 2025 winners: Conclave leads the victors as the film picks up THREE gongs including Outstanding British Film – as Zoe Saldana accepts Supporting Actress award with expletive-laden speech 
Jesse has previously collected Kieran’s gongs at Critics’ Choice Awards, National Society of Film Critics Award and National Board of Review Awards.
Later in the evening Jesse also collected Best Original Screenplay gong and shared an emotional speech on the stage.
Picking up the movie’s second prize, he admitted: ‘I didn’t write anything because I didn’t think I’d win.
‘I want to share this with my wife, who didn’t come because she didn’t think I’d win.’
Meanwhile Conclave picked up four gongs at the 2025 BAFTAs including the Best Film and Outstanding British Film Awards.
Up against a huge list of 10 nominees, Conclave came up trumps in the flagship categories – adding to their previous gongs for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.
Receiving the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, director Edward Berger said: ‘It is a huge honour, outstanding British film, and I’m not even from here! I feel so welcome in your midst.
‘We live in a time of crisis for democracy. Insтιтutions that used to bring us together are used to pull us apart.
‘Sometimes it is hard to keep the faith in that situation, but that’s why we make movies and that’s why we made this movie.’
The biggest night in British film returned with actor David Tennant as host and an array of guest presenters on hand to deliver awards throughout the night.
BAFTA 2025 WINNERS
BEST FILM
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave – WINNER
Emilia Pérez
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Bird
Blitz
Conclave – WINNER
Gladiator II
Hard Truths
Kneecap
Lee
Love Lies Bleeding
The Outrun
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Hoard – Luna Carmoon (director, writer)
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt (director, writer) – WINNER
Monkey Man – Dev Patel (director)
Santosh – Sandhya Suri (director, writer), James Bowsher (producer), Balthazar De Ganay (producer) [also produced by Alan McAlex, Mike Goodridge]
Sister Midnight – Karan Kandhari (director, writer)
BEST CHILDREN’S AND FAMILY FILM
Flow
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – WINNER
The Wild Robot
BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
All We Imagine As Light
Emilia Pérez – WINNER
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story – WINNER
Will & Harper
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – WINNER
The Wild Robot
BEST CHILDREN’S AND FAMILY FILM
Flow
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
BEST DIRECTOR
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet – WINNER
Conclave – Edward Berger
Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve
Emilia Pérez – Jacques Audiard
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora
The Brutalist
Kneecap
A Real Pain – WINNER
The Substance
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A Complete Unknown
Conclave – WINNER
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora – WINNER
Demi Moore – The Substance
Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun
BEST LEADING ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist – WINNER
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Hugh Grant – Heretic
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Selena Gomez – Emilia Pérez
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez – WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain – WINNER
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
BEST CASTING
Anora – WINNER
The Apprentice
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Kneecap
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – WINNER
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
BEST EDITING
Anora
Conclave – WINNER
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Kneecap
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Blitz
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Nosferatu
Wicked – WINNER
BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIR
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Substance – WINNER
Wicked
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist – WINNER
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Wild Robot
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked – WINNER
BEST SOUND
Blitz
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Gladiator II
The Substance
Wicked
BEST VISUAL SPECIAL EFFECTS
Better Man
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Gladiator II
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked
BEST BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Adiós
Mog’s Christmas
Wander to Wonder – WINNER
BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM
The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing
Marion
Milk
Rock, Paper, Scissors – WINNER
Stomach Bug
RISING STAR AWARD (VOTED FOR BY THE PUBLIC)
Marisa Abela
Jharrel Jerome
David Jonsson – WINNER
Mikey Madison
Nabhaan Rizwan
