The Real-Life Friendship Behind Succession's Iconic Duo Leaves Fans Wanting More
Since Succession started in 2018, fans have been enthralled by the relationship between the youngest son of Logan Roy, Roman, and his legal counsel Gerri Kellman. Their on-screen pairing was actually inspired by the actor's off-screen chemistry, which comes from years of being friends and working together.“It’s nice to work with that lady, and you know, look at her,” Culkin told The Associated Press during a red carpet event for Succession in 2021. “How? She’s so alluring, I can’t focus. It’s a joy. No, I’ve been friends with J. for nearly 20 years or so.”Forty-year-old Culkin revealed that he was “really excited” when J. Smith-Cameron was cast, as her character was “initially written to be a man,” and said their chemistry “just sorta happened on its own and grew” during production and ultimately changed how both of their characters were written.This now-iconic on-screen partnership comes after years of working together and being personal friends outside of work.
8 How Long Has Kieran Culkin And J. Smith-Cameron Known Each Other?
Kieran Culkin and J. Smith-Cameron have known each other since at least 2005, when they both filmed Kenneth Lonergan’s film Margaret together. The pair share no scenes together. Margaret was an infamous production nightmare, although is now considered a modern masterpiece. Despite being filmed in 2005, it was repeatedly delayed while Lonergan struggled to create a final cut he was satisfied with, and was finally released in 2011.
Lonergan, who has been married to J. Smith-Cameron since 2011, has cast Culkin in multiple roles on-stage. Kieran has appeared on stage in roles in The Starry Messenger and This Is Our Youth, penned by Kenneth Lonergan. The three have been spotted together through various projects over the years with an Instagram post of Kieran appearing on Smith-Cameron's Instagram as far back as 2014.
In 2019, Oscar-winning writer Kenneth praised Kieran in a Variety piece. "It’s hard to write about Kieran in this context because I genuinely love and admire him, and genuinely find him aggravating," he wrote. Lonergan won an Oscar for penning Manchester By The Sea.
"As for his aggravating qualities as a friend, they’re fairly insubstantial — he’s a bad arguer, he’d rather get on your nerves than make his point, he’s never seen a movie pre-1980 and constantly accuses me of only pretending to like them to show off, etc., etc." Kenneth Lonnergan married J. Smith-Cameron in 2000, and they share a daughter together.
7 How Kieran Culkin And J. Smith-Cameron's Real Relationship Inspired Succession
J. Smith-Cameron told The Times that her long-term friendship with Kieran Culkin helped them improvise filming a scene in the first season, “We had a little talk about how you can’t get a good martini in England unless you were in London,” said 65-year-old Smith-Cameron. Then, “I left and he looked back at me, and then I looked back at him. We missed each other.” The writers used that look as inspiration for their on-screen flirting.
“We were kind of always flirting on set,” Smith-Cameron says of her co-star in a recent interview with Esquire. “It was never for one second a real flirtation. It was that set-crush kind of thing.”
“I would flirt with J. In the most obnoxious way, just to f*** around … but it never occurred to me that it would inform anything they wrote,” Culkin revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, adding that Smith-Cameron was “a lovely scene partner” and “fantastic” to work with.
Kieran is delighted the writers of Succession incorporated their chemistry. "I remember saying to my wife in season one, 'I really hope something happens sort of sexually or romantically between those two, but I don't know that it ever will,'" Kieran shared, referring to his wife Jazz Charton.
He simplified it to Stephen Colbert when he told the late night host, "Just trying to do a scene and whatever, we're just flirting, I don't know, J's hot."
6 Do Kieran Culkin And J. Smith-Cameron Hang Out Outside Succession?
Kieran Culkin and J. Smith-Cameron also socialize away from the set of the show, sometimes with their co-stars and sometimes just the pair of them. J. is an avid Twitter user and frequently posts about their love of Martinis, flying to awards shows together and catching a drink after work.
"Kieran's finger is gonna get stuck like that," Smith-Cameron captioned an image of the pair drinking together in a hotel bar.
In March 2022, J. described a plane ride between New York where the pair were seated next to each other. She jokes about the actor stealing a bracelet from a flight attendant named Pamela, which he allegedly wore at an AFI event the next day.
5 Has J. Smith-Cameron Met Kieran Culkin's Family?
Recently, the actress shared a photo of herself posing with Rory Culkin, the younger brother of Kieran. J. Smith-Cameron posed with him at the premiere of her new Showtime series, Waco: The Aftermath and used the photo as an opportunity to have a dig at his brother. Rory's third film role was in the Oscar-nominated You Can Count On Me which was written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan.
"And [look] who i [sic] invited to it (because he was so brilliant in the first series, Waco, as David Thibodeau the guy who lived through and wrote the book," she wrote. She then jokingly took a dig at Kieran, writing, "(Yes, that's right it's RORY, the NICE Culkin)"
J. also regularly interacts with Kieran's wife Jazz on social media, usually to mock the Igby Goes Down actor. On a post celebrating Kieran's 40th birthday she commented, "hahaha: get him some 'granny panties' would ya? he’s always talking about them (obsessed)."
4 When Kieran Culkin And J. Smith-Cameron Argue
Whilst filming the fourth and last season, J. Smith-Cameron took to Twitter to reveal she had thrown a glass of water over her co-star. She didn't reveal what had prompted the exchange.
Kieran Culkin later explained the incident on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The incident happened after Smith-Cameron, was feeling "insecure" after a table read as the script apparently included Culkin's character, Roman Roy, making a "joke" about the age of Smith-Cameron's character, Gerri.
"You know, she was insecure about being old, and later on we're having a dinner, and Sarah Snook is saying, she's like, 'You know, men's ears and noses never stop growing, so as they get older, they have long ears.' I said, 'You sure that's just men? And J. goes -- she goes, 'Why are you pointing at me? What? What?,'" he explained, imitating Smith-Cameron's voice. "And I was like, 'No, no, no. I'm just saying. You have long ears. Were they always that way? Or were they…' Still I don’t have the drink in my face. That's not -- That's early on in the dinner." But it was when Kieran took the joke too far that J. lost her cool with her co-star. "We get the check and everybody's getting ready to go," Culkin explained. "She goes, 'What’s happening? What are we doing?'" "And I take her hand, I go," he added, starting to shout. "'We're going now. We're all going home. It's 8 o'clock. Thank you so much for staying up late. We appreciate..." This is what led to Smith-Cameron throwing the drink in Culkin's face.
3 Kieran Culkin And J. Smith-Cameron's Nicknames For Each Other
J. Smith-Cameron confessed that she calls Kieran Culkin "baby man" on set, and he calls her "mommy girlfriend."
In 2020, Smith-Cameron posted a text message thread between the pair where she says "rooting for your Babyman," to him before the Emmys, and he responds with "Thanks, MommyGirlfriend."
2 The Cheeky SAG Award Kiss Between Kieran Culkin And J. Smith-Cameron
The actors shared a jokingly passionate kiss at the 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. After it was announced that Succession took home the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series, J. Smith-Cameron and Kieran Culkin congratulated each other with a kiss on the lips, playing up to their on-screen chemistry.
Fans went wild on social media following the unexpected kiss. "We've been waiting for this moment for the entire season," wrote one fan.
1 Will J. Smith-Cameron And Kieran Culkin Stay In Touch After Succession?
Kieran Culkin says while keeping in regular contact with the cast of Succession will not be possible, J. Smith-Cameron is someone he will keep in contact with.
“I’m not really going to keep up a proper relationship with anybody just because of logistics,” Culkin says, due to the cast’s permanent residencies all over the world. “It’s a big, big loss.” Smith-Cameron and Culkin both currently live in New York.
Smith-Cameron likely is not the only co-star Culkin says he’ll miss as Succession ends, with his on-screen sister Sarah Snook sharing an interaction that’s “indicative of the very sibling relationship that Kieran and I have offscreen as well.”
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