VARIETY ‘ACTORS ON ACTORS’: Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin on Memorizing Lines While on SUCCESSION and More

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In a new conversation for VARIETY’s first-ever Broadway “Actors on Actors” issue, “Succession” co-stars Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin reunite to discuss their runs in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” respectively. In a free-spirited chat, the two touch upon forgetting lines on “Succession,” the sentence Snook says in her head before she goes onstage, whether they miss working with scene partners, not being right for the role, getting characters confused, and more. 

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Culkin and Snook on the one time Culkin didn’t know his lines for “Succession”:

Culkin: “Sometimes people learn them within the blocking, so if the blocking changes, they can’t remember.”

Snook: “That’s what I used to do with “Succession.” I learned 80% of it. Then I would get 100% by the time the blocking was set. Except that time that you [laughs]…I would rely on other people to know their lines as well, and there was the time you came and you didn’t know any of them.”

Culkin: “I just didn’t know any of them…”

Snook: “Oh my god.”

Culkin: “…and I thought I could do it. I just remember starting the scene and going, ‘I actually don’t know this—even a little.’”

Snook on the sentence she says in her head before she goes onstage:

“Daughter, the other day, jumping off a step, was like, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I do a trick.’ And jumped…Now in my head I get onstage and I go, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, mama do a trick.’”

Culkin and Snook on trying to balance “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and motherhood:

Culkin: “I saw [‘Dorian Gray’] when you did it in London. It was intense and awesome. But it also was, how the hell are you getting through each day and doing eight shows a week?”

Snook: “Yeah, and breast feeding. I had two major panic attacks, one before leaving.” 

Culkin: “Geez.”

Snook: “I’m having one now.”

Culkin: “You’re reliving it. This is great.”

Snook and Culkin on whether they miss working with scene partners:

Snook: “I would like to say, honestly, yes, but I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would, weirdly.”

Culkin: “My favorite part of [‘Glengarry’] is this section where Bob Odenkirk as Shelley Levene describes a sale to me. And it’s like five minutes of me just sitting and listening to him, and it’s my favorite part.”

Snook: “Really?”

Culkin: “I love it. Because he’s always finding new shit, and he’s doing different things, and it’s so much fun every night.”

Snook: “That’s so good.”

Culkin: “I know. And I’m like [in a singsongy way], you don’t get to get that.”

Snook: “[Pouting] No, I don’t.”

Snook and Culkin on being in plays where they weren’t right for the role:

Snook: “I’ve been in a play that was really good, but I wasn’t good in it. Or at least I wasn’t enjoying it.”

Culkin: “I’ve been there too.”

Snook: “It’s a pain in the ass.”

Culkin: “It’s a bummer.”

Snook: “It was a potential transfer to Broadway, and I was like, ‘Please don’t. I couldn’t do this role there well.’”

Culkin: “And you genuinely felt like you were not doing the job?”

Snook: “I got the collywobbles. [She cracks up.]”

Culkin: “Nope, that’s not a word. We’re going to need a translator. You didn’t get the collywobbles? What?”

Snook: “I got in my head. I got the…”

Culkin: “…oh, the collywobbles. What’s wrong with you?”

Snook and Culkin on getting characters confused:

Snook: “This question came up recently. Do I ever get the characters confused? I said, ‘Nope. Never do. How could I? It’s very clear. I don’t get them confused.’”

Culkin: “And then you did…”

Snook: “It happened.”

Culkin: “because somebody planted that in your fucking brain. I had that happen. I was onstage, and I was in my mind going, ‘Fuck, I feel really present.’ [He pauses and looks around.] ‘Why is it quiet? Oh, it’s my line, isn’t it?’ It was like four whole seconds of quiet because I thought, ‘I feel really present right now.’”

[Photo Credit: Emilio Madrid for Variety Magazine]

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