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Somewhere in Kieran Culkin's attic, there is a self-portrait aging over time. The actor has the look of youth and even the devil-may-care attitude. He enters a room full of reporters with an Evian bottle cap in his mouth. When he's sure that everyone is looking, he spits in on the floor and scans the room. What is that cheesy saying about the eyes being the window to the soul? If it's true then Culkin shares the same fate as his literary counter part, Dorian Gray - behind the curtain of long lashes and his almond gray eyes lies a soul that seems hundreds of years older then his biological age. Which is now twenty, by the way.

Maybe your soul grows old by having one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, and it's not his face that people are seeing, but the striking similar features he shares with his older brother, Macaulay. A Google.com search yields 8,720 hits (plus one more after this article is published). All of them more likely than not, mention his famous older brother. This shouldn't be a surprise since the whole world has imitated the "after-shave scream" scene in Home Alone that made his then tow-headed brother, a legend. Perhaps what made Macaulay so popular at that time were his angelic looks coupled with his sass. Movie-goers wanted to hug him.

Now with M. Night Shymalan's Signs dominating the box office, another Culkin, Rory, graces the screen with the same trademark old eyes. It's not aliens that are invading earth – it's the Culkin brothers.

This September, Kieran will be starring in Igby Goes Down, as an acid-tongued prep school drop out, reminiscent of another literary figure – Holden Caulfield. You can't hug him though; he'll kick you in the crotch. In the movie, Igby takes us on a tour of the fucked up lives of the rich. Everyone around him is a mess covered up by expensive accessories and he ponders a way out while taking pills and drinking wine. Oh, Igby is only seventeen in the movie, by the way.

"[Igby] is a teenage boy who thinks his world and life are one way, but is set off on a sort of rampage when he realizes what he's accepted to be the truth about his family really isn't true, "says writer/director Burr Steers, "The film is about the lies hidden at the foundation of Igby's life and his discovering who he really is."

Kieran, himself though, didn't have to go too far to channel inspiration for this character.

"I'm a raging bastard. I'm a severe asshole on and off [the set]. I always get my way," he laughs heartily and turns towards his publicist sitting in chair in the corner of the room. "Great! I've got my publicist all worried. He's like, 'Shit. I'm playing solitaire over here. Fuck you!' You are right?"

"No," says his publicist with a laugh.

Note to the reader: This was all said in response to the question, 'What are you like on the set between takes?' C'mon. The reporter was begging for it!
The Likable Asshole
"I remember at the time saying that [Igby] is a likable asshole," Kieran dead pans while balancing on the hind legs of his chair.

In one hilarious scene, Igby dials up everyone listed in his mother's phone book to announce her very timely death.

"Hello?" he says into the receiver, "This is Jason Slocumb Jr. Igby. She'd love to, but… she dead!"

Still, he insists. Igby is not heartless or irredeemable. He's just angry about being suffocated in the world of phoniness. In one emotionally heavy scene, Igby comes to his girlfriend's (Claire Danes) door and begs her to come away with him. He pounds his head and thrashes about the hallway before crumpling to the ground and muttering, "I'm scared."

"Actually, [that] was one of the audition scenes. Try doing that in a small room with a little video camera and an intern on either side, "he says.

Evidently, he did something right to land the lead role in such a high caliber ensemble cast. When Kieran read the script, he fell so deeply in love with it that he asked his people to do whatever it takes to have him cast for the role. The auditions went on for seven months and by the end, they had they found a perfect Igby in Kieran.

Despite his unflappable exterior, Kieran admitted to being a little apprehensive working with such a talented cast. Mostly however, he was nervous about carrying the film all by himself.
"I had this thing in my head telling me, 'If you fuck up, you fuck up the movie!' I was always saying to Burr, 'I'm really nervous. I'm shaking"' he sticks out his hand to demonstrate. "He'd say, 'Good! That's a good thing because if I were you, I'd be scared too!'"

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