Barry Keoghan has never seen a script for “Bird.”
The 32-year-old actor stars in Andrea Arnold’s film which explores a flawed family, but admitted he had no idea what the film was about until he saw the finished project for the first time.
He recently said Hello Britain! Magazine: “There was no script. I still haven’t seen the script.
“I didn’t know what this film was about until I saw it at Cannes.
“I was like, ‘It’s about a bird, isn’t it?’ and I didn’t see any bird in it. I was like, ‘Where does this bird come from?’
“It contradicts this thing of, ‘I have to read.’” [the script] First and see if it relates.
“I signed up because I knew it would impact me on a human level, but it would also elevate me as an actor.”
Barry became a sensation thanks to his naked dancing in the psychological thriller “Saltburn” and he had great confidence in director Emerald Fennell.
“I have huge confidence issues, but I remember meeting Emerald and being so excited,” he said.
“It took a lot for me to think about, because on paper you say: ‘This is the role of a lifetime.’ You go from that to ‘I’m going to show a lot of myself – literally’.”
“There was so much going on, I had no leadership role at all.”
And Barry doesn’t think the viral moment will ever “leave him.”
“It’s crazy, it’s gone everywhere,” he said. He will never leave me. “He’s playing in my head 24/7.”
The “Banshees of Inisherin” actor recently recalled a “crazy” moment earlier in his career when he auditioned for Steven Spielberg’s 2018 sci-fi film “Ready Player One.”
“I remember doing the screen test, and he had a little video camera in his hand, and I was like, ‘This is crazy,'” he told GQ magazine. Steven Spielberg films me doing a scene on a video camera.
Barry also said that he “always wanted to play a pilot,” which would have made him perfect for a Spielberg adventure film.
He has now fulfilled his dream by landing the role of Lt. Curtis Beddick in the new Apple TV+ drama “Masters of the Air.”
Barry said one of the keys to his acting is to show his emotions through his eyes, adding: “If you can convey your emotions and what you’re feeling with just your eyes, that’s powerful.”