How Kieran Culkin Felt Working With Ex Emma Stone

Kieran Culkin and Emma Stone are coming together again in the city of stars.

The Succession alum and Easy A actress—who dated from 2010 to 2011—recently reunited to collaborate on the upcoming film A Real Pain, which she produced and he stars in as a man traveling to Poland following his grandmother's death.

So, how does Kieran feel about working with his ex?

"She's great," Kieran exclusively told E! News' The Rundown host Erin Lim Rhodes at the Jan. 20 Sundance premiere of the film. "She's a really wonderful person."

In fact, the 41-year-old said being colleagues with a former partner has more upsides than you'd think.

"It's nice because you go into a job and most of the time you don't really know anybody," he explained. "But in this case, going in, I'm like, ‘Oh, OK, well at least that part's taken care of.'"

And while Kieran wasn't familiar with costar and director Jesse Eisenberg, he was someone Emma could vouch for, which made the process easier.

"I'm going into a situation where the producers are going to be great," he added. "And where the filmmaker will be nice, too. It was good."

Kieran and Emma started dating after meeting on the set of 2009's Paper Man. They remained friendly following their split, even starring together in the 2013 anthology flick Movie 43.

They've also reunited a few times at big Hollywood events, including most recently at the Critics Choice Awards on Jan. 14, where Kieran took home Best Actor in a Drama series for playing Roman Roy on Succession, and Emma won Best Actress for playing Bella Baxter in Poor Things (a role that also earned her double Oscar nominations for acting and producing).

While the pair earn an easy A on being friendly exes, they've also each found love with another since their breakup. Kieran went on to marry Jazz Charton in 2013, and the couple share two children together, daughter Kinsey Sioux, 4, and son Wilder Wolf, 2. As for Emma, she shares daughter Louise Jean, 2, with husband Dave McCary, whom she married in 2020.

Now, Kieran notes, "it's funny to even say 'ex'" when referring to the La La Land actress. As he told Rolling Stone in an interview published Jan. 20, "To me, she's just a really good friend of mine and my wife's. She's lovely and great."

Keep reading for a look at other surprising celebrity couples.

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