How Emma Stone 'blackmailed' Kieran Culkin into filming 'A Real Pain'

Emma Stone is nothing if not extremely persuasive.

Kieran Culkin just won best supporting male actor at the Golden Globes for his role in A Real Pain, but none of this would have happened if it weren't for his longtime pal Emma — director Jesse Eisenberg has just revealed.

"[Kieran] was trying to drop out of the movie two weeks before we were shooting. Like all the money had been spent, and he was trying to drop out in New York," Jesse, who also stars in the film, explained at the Palm Springs Film Festival recently, as reported by Collider.

"So one of our producers, Emma Stone, essentially like blackmailed him to come back to the movie behind my back, and literally took him off the plane with his kids and flew to Poland with him.

"I have a video of her holding his kid’s hands going through customs like a proof of life video that he made it, and he showed up to rehearsal late, even though we had made the rehearsal around when his plane was getting in."

But Emma wasn't just acting as Kieran's producer in this scenario: She was also being his friend.

The two have a long-standing relationship, as proven by some incredible archive photos from 2009 and 2010, so clearly the La La Land star knew how to get her pal to comply with her "blackmailing" demands.

Obviously, Emma’s somewhat extreme methods more than paid off, since Kieran is now one of the movie’s two stars, and has already been rewarded for it this early into awards season. A Real Pain was also nominated in three other categories at Sunday’s awards show.

The film tells the story of two cousins (Jesse and Kieran) who reunite to tour Poland, where their grandmother was from. This touching drama-comedy is out now in cinemas.

A REAL PAIN | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictures - YouTube

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