Barry Keoghan says he only took one day off while filming Saltburn to see newborn son

Barry Keoghan has revealed he only took one day off from work to see his newborn son while filming Saltburn.

Keoghan, 31, is the actor on everyone’s minds at the moment after his jaw-dropping turn in Emerald Fennell black comedy-thriller Saltburn, which saw his character Oliver Quick slurping up Jacob Elordi’s murky used bathwater and dancing naked around a stately home to Sophie Ellis Bextor’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’, among other things.

While the actor has enjoyed a number of high profile roles in the past, arguably none have proven as momentous as his latest, which has landed him a number of award nominations, including the Golden Globe for Best Actor.

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Speaking to GQ about his sudden rise to super stardom, he said it felt ‘nice’ to be seen on screen – finally - as anything other than a boy.

“It’s nice not just being looked at as the weird-looking guy, the unique f**kin’ freaky little freak man-child, freak child-man, whatever you want to call it,” he said.

“It’s nice to see people kind of look at you in that way. I’ll be honest. It is nice.”

Keoghan said his ‘prettiness’ didn’t get him this far, but he’s conscious that being someone viewers will want to look at ‘opens up other lanes’ for him.

“It’s part of the leading man thing,” he added, joking that he’s mastered his ‘little freak child-man era, as we call it’.

“And now I’m just Man,” Keoghan said.

“Freak-Man. Man-Freak.”

Of course, the journey to the top hasn’t been something that happened overnight, as it took a lot of graft – so much so, in fact, that he only took one day off after the birth of his son, Brando, in August 2022.

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Keoghan said of the happy arrival, which came right in the middle of shooting: “They gave me a day off,” he says, laughing. “Good on them! Day off, and straight on to night shoots and night feedings - boom!”

He added: “You see me tired. Yeah. Brando. Good ol’ Brando.”

But while it might sound gruelling, Keoghan found it truly was the ‘best’ of times.

“It was probably the best time of my life, to be quite fair,” he said.

“Havin’ a baby boy, and leadin’ a movie. It was the best time of my life, I must say - yeah.”