Barry Keoghan, You Have Nothing to Be Hesitant About

Barry Keoghan is shy, but if you’ve seen Saltburn then you know that he has absolutely zero reason to be.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, one of Hollywood’s best-loved breakouts (and my personal favorite onscreen weirdo) confided that the notion of baring all for the buzzed-about film’s finale took a second for him to warm up to.

Spoilers ahead

In case you haven’t seen it (congrats! You’re still normal), Keoghan’s character, Oliver Quick, is a sniveling, sociopathic striver who’s found his way into the labyrinthine estate of his classmate and friend, Felix Catton, for a summer stay. By the end, he’s outlived the entire aristocratic Catton family (and likely murdered most of them) and inherited the sprawling property. In celebration, he strips down to not one stitch of clothing and proceeds to stylistically helicopter dick in every room of his new home to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor.” As one does!

In theory, it’s understandable that Keoghan might shy away from filming such a display…and then you see it. Firstly, I’ve seen professional nude models pose with more insecurity than Keoghan. Not only does he sell, well, naked insanity better than most, he has one, very impressive reason to be confident. Actually, two. Let’s just say, the front porch and the back patio are equally enjoyable sights. Truly, this man could have a nude scene in every film and I doubt anyone would take umbrage.

Anyway, back to Keoghan’s unmerited hesitancy. He told Entertainment Weekly it was really just about “me having no clothes on.”

“I’m a bit, ehhh,” Keoghan said, referencing his shyness. “But after take one, I was ready to go. I was like, ‘Let’s go again. Let’s go again.’ You kind of forget, because there’s such a comfortable environment created, and it gives you that license to go, ‘All right, this is about the story now.’” Yeah…because the story simply wouldn’t have worked if he had kept his clothes on. Being psyched and clothed would’ve just been inauthentic. I see your vision, Emerald Fennell.

What did he think about the ending? Ultimately, it “felt totally right” to him. “It’s ownership. This is my place. It’s full confidence in, ‘I can do what I want in this manor. I can strip to my barest and waltz around because this is mine.’ Yeah…it was fun.”

For us all, Barry. For us all.