Barry Keoghan says that 'Saltburn' helped people to stop looking at him as just a 'freak child-man'

• Barry Keoghan says that "Saltburn" helped people stop looking at him as just a "freak child-man."
• The Irish actor opened up about his latest role in a new interview with GQ.
• "It's nice not just being looked at as the weird-looking guy," Keoghan said.

Barry Keoghan says that "Saltburn" helped people stop looking at him as just a "freak child-man."

In a new interview with GQ, the Irish actor opened up about how public perception of him has changed since the film was released last year — and he's relieved audiences are finally seeing him in a different light.

"It's nice, man," Keoghan told GQ. "It's nice not just being looked at as the weird-looking guy, the unique feckin' freaky little freak man-child, freak child-man, whatever you want to call it."

Keoghan has played those kind of roles in the past: a young, dimwitted villager abused by his father in "The Banshees of Inisherin," a creepy, problematic teen in "Killing of a Sacred Deer," and a young man who meets a tragic death in "Dunkirk."

In "Saltburn," Keoghan plays Oliver Quick, an Oxford student who becomes obsessed with his wealthy classmate Felix Catton, played by Jacob Elordi.

The Emerald Fennell-directed film has some sexually-charged scenes — including one where Keoghan dances through a manor while naked.

The 31-year-old actor even declared that he's done with his "little freak child-man era."

"And now I'm just Man. Freak-Man. Man-Freak," Keoghan said.

Elsewhere in the interview, filmmaker Martin McDonagh, who collaborated with Keoghan on "The Banshees of Inisherin," says that Keoghan's weirdness is what makes him a great actor.

"He's creepy and he freaks you out, but it's truthful and it's honest," McDonagh told GQ. "He always inhabits a person, warts and all."

Keoghan picked up a BAFTA award and was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2023 Academy Awards for his role in "The Banshees of Inisherin."

In an interview with Variety in December, Keoghan revealed why he chose to go ahead with filming some of the wilder scenes in "Saltburn."

"I'll do anything once that moves the story forward and if there's a right reason for it creatively," he told Variety. "I'm not going to do something because it's out there or for the 'wow' factor."