Kieran Culkin, who took home the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award last year, was back to present the award to this year’s winner on Sunday, March 15.
“Last year, [Robert Downey Jr.] handed me the award. And right as I was walking off the stage, I said, ‘This pretty great.’ And he said, ‘It is. You know what’s even better? Coming back next year and being able to give it to somebody else,” the A Real Pain star, 43, told ABC reporters Whit Johnson and Linsey Davis.
“And since he said that I got, like, chills, and went, ‘Oh, I get to do that next year! I didn’t even think about that,’ ” he added. “It’s a nice feeling. Hopefully I get to actually hand it to someone. That would be nice.”
“I think that’s part of the plan,” Johnson noted.
“If they all attend. Umm, yeah,” Culkin responded with a shrug.
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The nominees included Sean Penn, Delroy Lindo, Stellan Skarsgard, Benicio Del Toro and Jacob Elordi. And unfortunately, his disappointing prediction came true: The Supporting Actor Oscar went to One Battle After Another’s Penn, 65 — the only nominee who didn’t attend.
This is Penn’s third Oscar. He previously won the Best Actor statues for Mystic River in 2004 and Milk in 2009.