Playing dumpling roulette with televisions new favorite lovable bad boy.
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Were sitting in Decibel, the impressively graffitied East Village sake bar.
Its early enough that its empty save for a few tourists whove just arrived, guidebooks in hand.
Thirty-five and a half years on the island of Manhattan, says Culkin about his lifetime in New York.
Im dating myself, but I used to Rollerblade down the sidewalk and it was fine.
Now I have a hard time walking.
Decibel is a good refuge from all that.
This place is authentic.
It really is what it is.
As it happens, its also the bar where I had my first date with my now-wife.
He seems happy to have settled down.
The waiter arrives, greets Culkin, then takes our sake order.
The nigori is the one my friend got me turned on to, Culkin says.
I like the nigori shit.
Is that what you fuck with here, usually?
Sometimes, theres just an incredibly spicy one.
The last time I was here, I had, like, eight of them and I was good.
But sometimes … he says by way of warning, before we get back to discussing his new show.
But Macaulay has since retired from acting, leaving Kieran as the surprise standard-bearer for the family dynasty.
Not unlike with his character, Roman, you underestimate him at your peril.
Its not a stretch, in other words, to imagine Igby and Dennis as proto-Romans.
Still, he kept reading.
Then Roman walks in the room and says, Hey, hey, motherfuckers!
And I think,Okay, I kind of understand this guy.
Hes a piece of shit.
But I like him.
As it turns out, everyone likes him.
Especially at a moment when rich assholes are sucking up so much of our attention already?
His eyes begin to water.
He waves me off.
I got a hot one!
When he regains his composure, he says, laughing, I dont know.
The kid does almost.
Roman tears up the check in his face.
When I read it, I thought,I can do that, Culkin says.
And I like it.
I dont like the guy, but I like it.
he says, Any time I do anything external, I get fucked up.
And then Im in my head.
I would almost like it if I never had to put on a costume or a different haircut.
I want to not have to think about it and just do it.
It helps that the shows creators give the actors ample room to improvise.
Theres something really therapeutic and nice about playing that.
But I imagine being that person is tiresome and awful.
Which, by the end of season one, Culkin accomplishes.
Hes a person, says Culkin of Roman.
Were all fucking people.
He still wants his mother to hug him.
He wants someone to kiss him and tell him hes great.
