Barry Keoghan may have slurped up the scenery in one of the most divisive scenes in 2023, but don’t expect to see him in quite as many meme-worthy roles in the future. “I don’t search or seek out roles that have a demeanor of being evil, I just want to show range and get to play different parts with the directors I love. But yeah, I do want to get away from the weird parts,” the Saltburn actor said during an appearance on The Louis Theroux Podcast this week.
Citing actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and Christian Bale who “don’t show up for everything and… picked up parts quite cautiously,” Keoghan continued, “I’ve no need to rush in. I’ve started to understand that less is best, you know, people can get really tired of seeing your face… I’m trying to learn from that.”
While this may sound like the type of wisdom that generally comes with experience, Keoghan has unfortunately had to deal with something Day-Lewis and Bale probably didn’t at the heights of their respective careers (or at least not to the same extent): people literally telling him they’re sick of his face on the internet. “It’s sad to kind of pick someone’s appearance apart. Especially on TikTok as well,” the star, who’s gone viral in recent months both for his Saltburn scenes and for dating Sabrina Carpenter, shared. “People can sit there and make videos and be like, “I don’t like his face,” “he looks weird,” or “he looks evil,” and just pick you apart… I shouldn’t be on the internet, but I’m a young lad who’s curious and I want to know what’s been said.”
Luckily, he’s able to make Oscar-nominated lemonade from these proverbial lemons. “I want to have something to draw from. So I don’t want to go back and have closure on everything,” he said of using the hardship and trauma in his life to bring “real emotion” to his scenes. We’ll see how that plays out—and how weird he gets—in upcoming projects like the Peaky Blinders movie from Netflix and The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, where he’ll star alongside the musician and Jenna Ortega.
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