Page 97 - Sharp November 2024

TOP BY BURBERRY; JEANS BY FRAME, F E A T U R E AT HARRY ROSEN
“I always felt like an outsider. But that built me up, in a sense, to prepare for this work.”
standout roles are a meek-but-cunning criminal in 2018 docudrama American Animals, and a beastly bully in the low-budget Calm with Horses. There’s a theme here, a wild and savage thread running through the actor’s filmography, and one which upholds either derivation of the “Keoghan” name.
There’s a similarly raw, real feel to his boxing. Keoghan has been a keen amateur fighter for years — even bringing his talents to the screen several times, most recently for Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air alongside Austin Butler. This summer, it was announced that Keoghan would star alongside Cillian Murphy in Netflix’s much anticipated Peaky Blinders movie. Boxing has played a strong role in the series to date, so might that be why he got the nod?
“I’ve been such a fan of the show,” says Keoghan, slipping the question as presumably only a boxer could, “and I always want to work with Cillian. He’s an actor that I absolutely admire, but also just a person I admire. He’s such a family man, and he’s always been there for me. He always checks in.”
Murphy won his first Oscar this year, for Oppenheimer. Keoghan’s first nomination came in 2023 for his staggering supporting turn in The Banshees of Inisherin — a role for which it seems a criminal injustice that he didn’t scoop the statuette. He was even heavily tipped for Saltburn, a film which, among other eyebrow-raisers, saw the actor strip off and dance his way around
the halls of a stately home. Early awards season rumblings even have him earmarked for Bird, another film that features a solo Keoghan dance scene (albeit dressed this time).
“And I don’t dance!” protests Keoghan. “I really don’t. And I don’t mean that in a professional aspect. I mean if I’m out somewhere, I don’t dance. I’m always the one sitting down, or just standing, nodding my head.”
Once again, there’s the rabbit.
“But, if it’s required of the character, I’ll do it.” (And here, the wolf.) “Because then, there’s a licence to be brave, to be silly, to find and discover and not be yourself. And I think the body is a great way of showing emotion. You just need look at animals, they just embody it all — and all without any dialogue. And, I think, if we can, we should do it that way.”
More animals. There’ve been birds, bugs, bats, calming horses, and sacred deer so far. But, throughout career ups, downs, and irrepressible ups, the wolf and the rabbit are what remain. Is there anything else to say? Only that you’ve probably heard the folk legend about the two wolves. You know the one — every man has a pair of wolves inside him, of two very different natures, and they fight each other. Which wins? Well, that depends entirely on which one you feed. But Barry Keoghan is built a little different. He has one wolf, and one rabbit. He feeds both.
SHARPMAGAZINE.COM
NOVEMBER 2024 97