Barry Keoghan Almost Lost an Arm While Filming This Movie (2024)

The Big Picture

  • Barry Keoghan's performance in 'Saltburn' showcases his ability to fully embrace complex characters.
  • Despite battling necrotizing fasciitis, Keoghan not only survived but delivered an Oscar-worthy performance in 'The Banshees of Inisherin.'
  • Keoghan's dedication to his roles demonstrates his commitment and professionalism as an actor.

Saltburn, written and directed by Emerald Fennell, is a black comedy and psychological thriller starring Barry Keoghan as the disturbingly weird and deliciously evil Oliver Quick. His performance is nothing short of exceptional, a testament to the actor's ability to embrace a character—the good bits and the bad. Keoghan's skill as an actor lies in his ability to immerse himself entirely in whichever character he plays. He follows that character's psychology to its bitter and strange conclusion with an enthusiasm that is both mesmerizing and unparalleled. However, what is most amazing is that he can do this even under exceptional circumstances.

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Four days before shooting the film, The Banshees of Inisherin, Keoghan appeared on set with a swollen arm and was hospitalized with necrotizing fasciitis, also known as, 'Flesh Eating Disease.' The disease is incredibly lethal, with one in five patients dying from it, and yet Keoghan not only managed to survive the disease, but was also able to give an incredible, Oscar-worthy performance in the process. In short, Keoghan's resiliency is nothing short of amazing.

Barry Keoghan Almost Lost an Arm While Filming This Movie (1)

The Banshees of Inisherin

Drama

Comedy

Crime

Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.

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Barry Keoghan's Commitment Is Exemplified in His Most Recent Film, 'Saltburn'

Barry Keoghan Almost Lost an Arm While Filming This Movie (2)

Saltburn is, first and foremost, a film about class war. It is a grotesque yet beautifully shot, darkly funny film about a disaffected genius-weirdo named Oliver Quick, who infiltrates and destroys a prominent aristocratic family by befriending their son, Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), while at school at Oxford University. Oliver is unique and awkward but is a genius and the only student to complete Oxford's summer reading list. Contrast this against Felix, who spends his time smoking and being beautiful, stumbling around from party to party. Despite their difference in station, Oliver can appeal to Felix's sense of charity, winning him over with his stories of a deprived life living under the roof of substance-abusing parents amid squalor and filth, none of which turns out to be true.

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Perhaps the most unhinged of the psycho-sexual destruction of this noble yet somehow deserving family is most present in a scene that the actor improvised. After Felix dies and is buried, Oliver mourns his death, then removes his clothes and has sex with the grave, which continues for an almost absurdly long time long after the music used to carry the evidence into the scene stops. A naked Barry Keoghan writes and gratifies himself in the mud, a twisted elegy for his dead friend who, in his own way, used Oliver to gratify himself. There is something eerily beautiful about the desecration of that muddy grave, which begs the question of how the actor came up with something so disturbing.

Related

Barry Keoghan's Dominic Is Crucial To Understanding 'The Banshees of Inisherin'

Dominic is the most tragic character in an island of pure, untempered tragedy.

What is certain is that Keoghan digs deep when becoming a character, moving through Oliver's psychology and integrating himself in a way that only the greatest of great actors are capable of. Speaking to Esquire about the scene, he says, "I think no one spoke for a bit...You know, I had mud all over me, as well. There's a lot of crazy things I'd done for that movie." According to the actor, the goal was to find out what the next level of obsession was for Oliver, and he delivers, throwing his body and his very dignity deep into filthy depravity. He told Deadline that the scene was entirely off the cuff, done in one take. Keoghan throws caution to the wind; what transpires on camera is a total metamorphosis and a wanton abandoning of self, giving birth to a truly sick and depraved monster of a character made possible by Keoghan's dedication to the role.

Barry Keoghan Shined in a Supporting Role Because of His Dedication in 'The Banshees of Inisherin'

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The same immersion into character is what made Keoghan's role as Dominic Kearney in The Banshees of Inisherin so captivating. Dominic is a pleasant lad, a weirdo in his own right, but unlike Oliver, his heart isn't a black pit of hatred for those masters of humanity. Dominic is a simple boy from town, desperate for a friend in Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) and a girlfriend in Siobáhn Súilleabháin (Kerry Condon). In perhaps his best scene in the film, Dominic professes his love by a stream to a comically indifferent Siobáhn. He stutters, fumbles with his words, and—despite her protestations—tells her not to skip ahead. His eyes flit around, unable to focus on the object of his affection, and as she lets him down gently, he resigns himself to failure and says, "There goes that dream, then."

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This heartfelt moment, where this embattled boy's soul is laid bare, is so touching, and Keoghan's idiosyncratic performance is so captivating and nuanced that it is difficult to believe that only a short time prior, he was grappling with the idea of losing a limb. He giggles when recounting the scene to GQ in a breakdown of his most iconic characters. Keoghan was rushing to catch a plane while shooting that final scene; now, imagine all that pressure of juggling a busy acting career coupled with a life-altering disease.

The fear and existential dread of abject failure creeps into a fragile conscience, yet no trace of the actor's grievances or affliction comes across in this beautiful scene. He is un-rushed, clear, and convincing: there is total focus on his performance, putting the project and its needs above his own in a display of professionalism well beyond his years. Perhaps this is because the role was written for him, as he revealed to the L.A. Times. He felt like it was his job to bring honesty to the character, something he does in every role that he takes. In this case, while missing rehearsals due to his fight with necrotizing fasciitis, the actor used his recovery to help develop the character of Dominic and spontaneity within the role, something he brought to Saltburn, as well.

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He never took his eye off the prize, though, imagining that Oscar win from his hospital bed. He was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category, but lost to Ke Huy Quan, still a monumental accomplishment for such a young actor. The accolades are well-deserved as Keoghan's ability to inhabit his character, warts and all, is something to behold.

Barry Keoghan Nearly Lost His Arm While Filming 'The Banshees of Inisherin'

Barry Keoghan Almost Lost an Arm While Filming This Movie (4)

Keoghan's commitment to the craft is nothing short of incredible, and his work ethic has become something to be admired. It bears keeping in mind that during what is possibly considered his breakout role as Dominic in The Banshees of Inisherin, he contracted and survived a flesh-eating disease. How he managed to traverse a disease so deadly that it kills a fifth of its patients and yet commit so totally to the character of Dominic is astounding. Keoghan told GQ that he was given a battery of medication, and at one point, even amputation was considered.

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Things were bad, but director, Martin McDonagh, gives a nearly surreal account of the four days before the shoot when Keoghan came to set with his arm inflamed. McDonagh says, “I’m not sure if he was on a lot of meds, but he seemed to shrug it off...We were only about four days out from shooting, and his arm was puffed up. But he said, ‘Yeah, no, I’m going to be fine—I’ll see you on Tuesday.’ I went to the hospital thinking, 'Shit—is he going to die?' Let alone, is he going to make the movie? But I came out of there energized and looking forward to it.”

That's what Barry Keoghan does, though: he becomes the character. He inhabits them, and the line that separates the two is so totally and completely blurred that it is a formidable thing to behold. The difference between a sweet boy like Dominic and a deliciously evil anti-hero like Oliver being played by the same person is strange, but speaks volumes about his range as an actor. It all comes down to Keoghan's ability to commit: to is olate the moment from everything else happening in the world. It's him and the camera—nothing else exists. It's a skill that will serve him well and is why he's one of the greatest actors to come out of Ireland, Hollywood's next big thing, and (hopefully, one day) an Oscar winner.

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The Banshees of Inisherin is streaming on Apple TV in the U.S.

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Barry Keoghan Almost Lost an Arm While Filming This Movie (2024)

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