Ncuti Gatwa missed out on a role in Jesse Eisenberg’s award-winning A Real Pain due to Doctor Who.
The film, directed by and starring The Social Network‘s Eisenberg, follows cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) tour Poland to honour their late grandmother, with old tensions resurfacing and new ones brewing as they explore their family history.
Succession star Culkin nabbed a Golden Globe for his role in the film, which also earned three additional nominations at the awards.
Sex Education star Gatwa was almost among the cast in the role of Rwandan genocide survivor Eloge, a part which eventually went to House of the Dragon‘s Kurt Egyiawan.
In a Q&A about the film (per Collider), Eisenberg shared how Gatwa was the first actor he approached for the role, but his commitments to Doctor Who scuppered the director’s plans.
“With Kurt, I tried to cast a Rwandan actor. The only Rwandan actor we met with was this brilliant guy, Ncuti Gatwa,” he said.
“He’s the current Doctor Who, and he was going to do the movie, but then Doctor Who‘s schedule changed and so we lost him. And so we were looking for a Rwandan actor, it was really hard to find a Rwandan actor.
“Kurt’s family is Cameroonian and, at that point, I turned it over to Eloge, the real Eloge, and said, ‘Can you help me cast this so this feels respectful to your culture?'”
A Real Pain also stars The White Lotus‘ Will Sharpe, Dirty Dancing‘s Jennifer Grey, and In the Earth star Ellora Torchia.
It was released in UK cinemas yesterday and comes to Hulu in the US on January 16. It will stream on Disney+ in the UK, but a release date has not been announced.
The film debuted with a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which has now dropped to a respectable 96%.
A Real Pain is in UK cinemas now and available to watch on Hulu in the US from January 16.
