Barry Keoghan Explains Why 1 Of Saltburn's Most Talked-About Scenes Is Also Its 'Most Relatable'
Barry Keoghan has shared his take on some of Saltburn’s most outrageous moments.
The polarising film has been dominating the conversation since it began streaming last month, with Barry diving into his character Oliver’s psyche during a new video interview with GQ.
Reflecting on the film’s infamous bathtub scene (you know the one we’re talking about), the Irish star said his character was “submitting to his obsession and trying to figure out what it is he’s chasing”.
“It’s almost like a sacrifice, how he lowers himself into the bath, visibly,” Barry said.
“And when he gets down there, he’s just confused and helpless and sick, you know, to do that. Ugh!
“But you can’t judge that as you play him. I can judge him as a spectator, but when I’m playing it, I’ve got to see justice to it, and see that it’s the right thing to do.”
Moving onto another of Saltburn’s most shocking sequences, Barry continued: “The grave thing is the same thing.”
Barry previously revealed how the sequence – in which Oliver gives a graveside tribute like none we’ve ever seen before – was not in the original script, and was actually improvised on set in the moment.
“I just wanted to explore and grow with the character, and figure him out,” Barry told GQ.
“When I asked for a closed set, I said I wanted to try something and see what I’d do as Oliver when ‘action’ happened, and where I went. And to me, he just went to a place of being totally heartbroken and lost and confused.”
Finally, Barry turned his attention the much-discussed finale, in which his character dances nude around his newly-inherited manor to the sound of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder On The Dancefloor.
“I think it was gorgeous to look at a figure like that, roaming that manor, dripping in money and paintings from the 1700s and to move so freely,” he explained.
He then insisted: “It’s not a normal thing to see. But it’s a normal thing to do, because I know we all do it at home. Every single one of us, we all dance around naked.
“So it’s probably the most relatable scene in the movie – to everyone watching.”
For those curious, Barry shared in the lead-up to Saltburn’s release that he went fully nude for the scene in question, and didn’t use any prosthetics.
Meanwhile, the sequence has apparently proved so popular that Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s signature hit returned to the top 10 of the UK singles chart last week, more than 20 years after its initial release.