Though Kim was excited to take on her next career “challenge,” she joked that she’s not well-equipped to handle the physical commitments that come with acting roles
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Kim Kardashian is ready for the next step in her career — but has some hesitations about what it may entail.
During the June 20 episode of The Kardashians, Kim revealed to her friends that she had sold a comedy movie to Netflix after going from studio to studio pitching the idea with writers Paula Pell and Janine Brito. The film, The Fifth Wheel, would see Kim, 43, taking on a leading role as well as a producing title.
“I was not expecting this career turn, it really did take me by surprise, and I think we all have Brad Slater to thank for this. He’s my agent,” she explained in a confessional during the episode. “You want a Brad Slater in your corner, he thinks the world of me.”
Prior to getting The Fifth Wheel picked up, Kim admitted she was feeling nervous as this was the first time she was pitching a movie idea to studios.
“If it happens and it works out, I will feel really accomplished and feel really fulfilled, but who knows?” she said of the film, which she described as a mix of The Hangover, Bridesmaids and First Wives Club. “This is just new to me, I’m a little bit green to this.”
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However, once offers started rolling in — “everyone called within 20 minutes with offers, it was really cool,” Kim recalled of the five studios she met with — her nerves started to ease, but the pressure began to set in.
“The offers they’re bringing my way, I’m like, ‘You think I can do that? I can’t do that,'” she told her friends over dinner, before noting in a confessional, “How do they know I can do it? Now the pressure’s on because I’m like, ‘Oh s—, this is happening,’ I’m tripping the f— out low key because I have to really do this and I have to deliver.”
As she came to terms with the demands of producing and starring in a film, Kim joked that she’ll “have to give up” something and immediately chose “sleep” as the first thing to go. But, she said, her looks most definitely won’t be taking a hit anytime soon.
“I can do a movie a year, I’ve got about 10 years where I still look good, so that’s all I’ve got in me and then I’ll take some time off … That’s my 10-year plan,” she said, later telling her friends, “I feel like you need less Botox for more emotion and I don’t have it. I’m not gonna be gaining 500 lbs. for a role… that’s not where I need to be. How am I gonna cry? How am I gonna be scared out of my mind?”
Despite her concerns, Kim said she was still determined to make her mark acting in movies.
“I wasn’t planning on this career and was like, I’m not gonna get ahead of myself here,” she explained. “I’m really nervous about it ’cause I have to f—ing deliver. It’s such a challenge for me and I want to welcome a challenge, and I’m like, every year I want to do something that makes me so uncomfortable that I really have to challenge myself.”
Kim made a splash in 2023 when she took on a recurring role in American Horror Story: Delicate, playing an entertainment publicist named Siobhan, who works for actress Anna Victoria Alcott (Emma Roberts). The horror series’ 12th season followed Roberts’ character as she struggled to start a family while promoting a successful movie during awards season.
The series marked Kim’s first foray into acting for the screen in more than a decade, aside from occasional cameo roles as herself in movies like Ocean’s Eight (2018). She also voiced Delores, a standard poodle, in two Paw Patrol movies.
Additionally, Kim previously took on minor roles in 2009’s Disaster Movie, Tyler Perry’sTemptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, CSI: NY and Drop Dead Diva. She has appeared as herself in guest spots on television series like How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock and Two Broke Girls and hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2021.
At the 2023 Met Gala, Kim shared that she took acting lessons in preparation for her American Horror Story role. “I think it’s really fun to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new and grow,” she said at the time. “I’m so excited for the experience.”
New episodes of The Kardashians drop Thursdays at 12 a.m. ET on Hulu.