Barry Keoghan is someone who has built a cottage industry around making sure that when he’s on the screen, we’re watching intently to see exactly what he’ll do next. His ascent through the industry came from a place of small supporting turns, but it wasn’t long before he made a name for himself as a professional scene-stealer in films such as Yorgos Lanthimos’ Killing of a Sacred Deer and David Lowery’s The Green Knight. It’s no great shakes to be typecast because of the intensity you bring to a role, and it seemed only natural that he’d end up playing The Joker in an upcoming Batman movie. Yet Andrea Arnold is someone he’s always wanted to work with, and he accepted his part in Bird without even seeing a script. He plays Bug, a scatterbrained young father who’s trying to collect hallucinogenic slime from a toad in a bizarre get-rich-quick scheme, but Keoghan makes sure his character is anything but a novelty comic relief.
When you prepare for a new role, I understand you have these little Moleskine notebooks – what goes in them?
Yeah. So it all started when I would give me granny my Moleskine about three or four weeks before starting a project. And I’d say to her, granny, while you’re sitting there watching the telly bingo, or whatever, could just write some questions down that you would ask this person. The question can be as silly as, do you prefer red sauce or brown sauce? Or do you like feckin’ mustard? Whatever. So she’d hand the book back and, I’m not even messing, there would be like 80 questions, and I’d elaborate on all of them. As part of that process, I’d go back to the script and find out what’s factual, what I know about the character. And the rest would be pure imagination and just shaping this person. It all started from that. I started to make more books and go a bit deeper, writing about the physicality of the characters, and accent and things like that. Then I started to do drawings and image walls of people and locations. Just creating that world for myself, and then throwing it all away before you going to set.
You throw them away?
Yeah, because you’ve got to be open for collaboration and finding new things. So chucking the books away, but not too far away. So’s I can still see them.
Your future biographers will have so much great material.
It’s the stuff that you don’t get paid for that, ironically, I enjoy the most. That’s just getting to do stuff that I loved to do as a kid: drawing; inventing characters. I’m doing that all right now as I’m stepping forward into Peaky Blinders, which is my next one. I’m not gonna give yous all this spiel about being a method actor, but it’s my own method and it’s what gets me by. And I’m always looking to learn new methods. Even the likes of Nykiya [Adams, who plays his daughter, Bailey, in Bird] on set, seeing what she brings. There’s an unorthodox aspect to her approach because she comes from a background where she hasn’t had training – so like me. I’m curious to see why she chose this rather than that; some is instinct but some is just really clever and thought-out. I’m always looking for stuff like that, and maybe take that and use it for me going forward.
Did you take Nykiya under your wing?
Yeah, but that wasn’t in front of the camera at all. She was out here in Toronto with me, bless ’er, and she was incredible. She handled it like a pro. But I just wanted to be by her side and help her get through things. That’s the kind of stuff that’s been passed on to me. No-one ever really gives tips on acting. I don’t think you really can. It’s expressive and it comes from within. All I did was try and make her feel equal to everyone. She brought a lot more to this than anyone.
Do you feel you ever had anyone who took you under their wing when you were first starting out?
Yeah, Colin [Farrell] has always been there for me. There’s a bunch of lads who have been there for me. Always supporting and checking in on me. Colin and Cillian [Murphy] actually. They’ve always checked in. You learn from watching them. No one actually tells you anything, ‘You should do this,’ or, ‘You should do that.’ It’s an unspoken thing. You learn from the best. You see how Colin engages with people on set and how he has time for everyone and treats everyone with the exact same amount of respect. Watching that as a younger actor, that’s the stuff I want to take in and pass down.
You’ve talked about how you jumped on this opportunity to work with Andrea Arnold. Do you recall your first encounter with her work?
Fish Tank. I remember seeing that and thinking… cos I grew up in flats similar to that. I just remember feeling like it was all filmed down the balcony from me. I knew that world so well. I wanted to do that, and I wanted to be on camera for that. I wanted to have someone like Andrea with me – and if you look back over past interviews, I’ve always talked about wanting to work with her, so this isn’t just me saying this. I love her documentary-like approach. We stepped into this, and you’d have to look around to find the camera. You’d have to remind yourself that you were on set. That to me is a privilege, rather than every 10 seconds having people come over and fix everything. People have their own jobs to do, but selfishly speaking, I just loved being in her world. She has this talent and this energy, and people just trust her. She gets these younger kids, and she draws out these performances from them… That’s incredible.
You’ve got Robbie Ryan’s camera moving constantly in this film. Are you less conscious of the camera?
Unless they have to get a specific thing, like you picking up a cup, that’s when I’ll have to look for the camera. Other than that, I’ve always wanted to be on the side of, let the camera chase me, let the camera try and figure out what I’m doing. Film acting for me isn’t a show and tell. I want people asking questions. I don’t wanna give it away. Someone actually said to me, or maybe I read it, but it was like, treat the camera like it’s someone you’re dating, then play really hard to get. And that involves lots of looking away and not making eye contact. Flirting. Even the mumbling side of it, refusing to project, is all part of that.
Projecting in that very traditional way is something that’s more vital for theatre. Have you ever considered doing that?
I never took to the stage because – not to speak ill of it – I don’t get that feeling I get when the camera’s there. You start and you finish on the same night – I don’t get it. Film is a way to immerse yourself in a world, and with someone like Andrea, you don’t know what’s going to happen next. I love that.
You mentioned your method, and I remember seeing you in Killing of a Sacred Deer and thinking that you’d embraced some form of very immersive and intense prep to get into that role.
I think method is sometimes a thing that people use in the wrong way. They use it as an excuse to be just silly. I’m not going call myself a method actor and get myself on a list with other actors. I have my own method; I’m still learning and discovering. I like to work on the accent, listen to the music, tuck myself away, be offline, all of that. I doesn’t mean that I’m a method actor. It’s whatever you’re comfy with.
Were you an avid film watcher when you were growing up? Were there types of films you were into?
Yeah, there was. I always watched films with Paul Newman and James Dean. Just men back then. I don’t know what I was searching for? Maybe it was the absence of a father for me. Just trying to get a sense of how men behaved. But it was always old movies. My granny would constantly be asking why I was putting all these old movies on, but I was fascinated with them. The Marlon Brando movies… I went and named my boy Brando. I used to go to place called the IFI in Dublin, and they’d show lots of European movies.
Sounds like you were more a cinema guy rather than a DVD-watcher.
When they let me in. I remember being barred from one cinema because I used to run up the exit stairs and they caught me. I was just being a little brat. I actually went back to that same cinema for the premiere of Eternals and was like, ‘Oh, guess I’m allowed back in?’
Did they have a Polaroid of your face behind the tills? Do not let this guy in.
I did run up the exit stairs again, just for the craic. One last time. But I love the cinema. Just being lost in a world for 90 minutes. I remember going to see [Céline Sciamma’s] Girlhood as well, and that’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
With your character, Bug, did Andrea have a very specific vision of how he was going to look and dress?
She did. She really knew what she wanted. This is all coming from her mind. It’s a collaboration to some extent, but everything she brought to it I never had a problem with. The hat – such a genius touch. Having the little paddy hat. The tattoos were amazing. Everything was very deliberate.
I imagine the tattoo-applying process was quite arduous.
I mean… as someone with ADHD, it’s hard to sit still for two-and-a-half hours. But it does give you a chance to get into it. If you’ve just got the scenes a day or two days before, it gives you a chance to settle in before you get on. It wasn’t that trailer make-up thing of going from a massive trailer to a set. It was all compact.
Did you go in public with your big face tattoos on?
Not really. You really wanna take them off. The reason is quite practical actually. It was really sunny while we were shooting, so I didn’t really want tan-lines of a big centipede on my face. Just stuff like that. All the tattoos all represented something quite specific. My brother has rosary beads on him in real life, and that was on me. These things are all a touch of home.
How did you find the e-scooter?
The e-scooter was fun. It’s not my favourite thing to go to. I prefer motocross, I do a lot of motocross. I’m familiar with being on two wheels.
The Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg is into motocross. You can chat bikes if you bump into him at a festival.
Is it about motocross?
No, but he has made films touching on that world in the past.
When I was in LA, I found a great place out there. I was with Axel Hodges, who’s a pro rider and he’s brilliant. Only 28. In San Diego, just getting back on the bike for prep for something else, it’s just really great fun. I’ve not seen of any motocross movies ever. Only two weeks ago, I asked Axel if there are any movies on it, or any movies he thinks should be made on it.
Feels like there’s a gap in the market there.
Totally. But you want the motocross to be the backdrop, not the subject.
I understand you’re a bit of a gamer. What are you playing at the moment?
Yeah, I am. When I can hold attention for more than 20 minutes, then yeah, I am. I get bored before you get to press the start button. I love to play Pokémon: Violet on Nintendo Switch. And what else? I play Football Manager. And I just bought Elden Ring. I got freaked out on the start mission. It’s quite scary. You know when you’re in caves and chattin’ to ghosts. I’m like, ‘Oh Jaysus, I don’t wanna be playing this.’ I think being alone in the game is tough. You need company, like a little doggie or something. Or a dragon.
It’s one of those games where you have to die a thousand times before it clicks.
I think I’ve died so many times it now won’t come back on.
