Kieran Culkin has come forward as the culprit who got Mark Ruffalo high during a performance of The Moment When more than two decades ago.
“I was 17 and stupid,” Culkin, 42, admitted to the prank in an interview with The Guardian published on Saturday, December 28.
Culkin and Ruffalo were in the 2000 production of the James Lapine play. The show was Culkin’s Broadway debut. The Succession alum confessed that he saw a bag of prop joints backstage and ultimately decided to switch one out.
Weeks later after making the swap, Culkin smelled the real joint and “watched” Ruffalo take a hit before passing it to another cast member. Culkin shared that he decided to come clean during the show’s intermission.
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“I’m like, ‘I thought this was a good prank. I’m stupid. Oh my God, I’m so sorry,’” he recalled. “But actually, they loved it. Mark says, ‘I haven’t smoked pot in 10 years; the second half’s going to be so much fun.’ There was this other actor who had never smoked pot in her life. She goes, ‘Is this what being high is? This is lovely.’ And then Phyllis Newman comes in and goes, ‘I haven’t smoked pot since the 1960s. Thank you, darling.’”
While Culkin’s costars didn’t see the harm in the stunt, the play’s stage manager did not share a similar sentiment.
“Then the stage manager comes stomping in and goes, ‘I don’t care whose it is, or what happened, but Kieran, give me the joint,’” he reflected. “I sheepishly handed her the roach and she said, ‘Ruin your life on your own time.’”
Following the incident, Culkin learned his lesson and never pulled a stunt like that again.
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“I know, I know. But I was young,” he told the outlet. “I’m 42 now. I know better. I’m not going to try to get anyone high on stage.”
Ruffalo previously shared the smoking mishap during a 2012 appearance on The Graham Norton Show. The Marvel star never revealed the identity of who was behind the prank.
“There was a play that I did that I had to smoke a joint in the first scene,” he recounted. “And of course, there was a very naughty young actor I was in the play with, who on the opening night with all the critics, he slipped a real joint onto the prop table.”
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Ruffalo shared that while he was on stage he and his costar “smoked a giant blunt on stage” and didn’t realize it until he noticed everyone laughing at his antics.
“I’m like, ‘Man, I am in it tonight. I feel it. I’m on fire. I’m feeling it,’” he reflected before he started questioning his surroundings. “Why’s that dude standing backstage laughing at me?’ And the kid who put the joint on the prop table is standing there, [laughing]. And I just went, ‘Oh s—.’”
Despite the mishap, Ruffalo had no hard feelings as he ultimately got “the best reviews” of his career.
