Kieran Culkin sounds a lot like Roman Roy when asked about his brother's kid stardom

It's not hard to imagine Kieran Culkin sounding like his "Succession" character, Roman Roy, when he recently expressed his sympathy for the onslaught of fame his brother Macaulay endured as a child star.

Kieran, 40, spoke to Esquire ahead of the premiere of the final season of "Succession" on March 26 about what it was like to watch Macaulay, 42, explode into stardom in "Home Alone" in 1990.

Macaulay's breakout performance made him one of the biggest child stars in movie history as a 10-year-old, which also brought increased scrutiny to their family from paparazzi and fans.

Kieran clearly felt for him at the time, which he remembered with a few lines that had a sprinkle of Roman Roy's biting wit.

“Poor f------ guy,” Culkin said about Macaulay. “He was little and having to try to accept that level of fame as reality.

“Even at that time, as a kid, I remember thinking, 'That sucks for him.'”

Culkin also looked back on his own rise in Hollywood, which included roles as a kid in "Father of the Bride" and "The Cider House Rules" before transitioning to adult roles like "Igby Goes Down" in 2002.

“I had this unhealthy relationship with what I did for a living," he said. "I really wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to be successful at it.”

He has been part of "Succession" on HBO since its premiere in 2018. The show's fourth season, which began on Sunday, will be its last.

In a 2021 New Yorker profile of co-star Jeremy Strong, who plays Roman's brother Kendall Roy on "Succession," Culkin talked about their differing approaches to acting, including Strong's reported self-isolation on set.

“That might be something that helps him. I can tell you that it doesn’t help me," Culkin told The New Yorker.

In Esquire, Culkin was asked if his comments had any effect on their relationship while working together on the show.

“We’re professionals," he told Esquire. "We like to go to work and do the thing. I don’t think it affected the way he did his work at all. Wouldn’t have affected mine. I think it was fine.”

With "Succession" wrapping up with its fourth season, Culkin is now mulling over what's next for a career that began when he was 8 years old. He is now a father of two children with his wife, Jazz Charton.

“I feel like what I’m supposed to do is be a stay-at-home dad,” he says at one point. “That’s where I feel like I’m the most me. And anything that takes me away from that is wrong.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com