Barry Keoghan discussed his Oscar-nominated role in the thriller Saltburn, highlighting a unique and unforgettable dressed-down dance scene that almost didn't make it into the film.
The Irish actor played Oliver, an apparent lonely Oxford University student who becomes completely infatuated and obsessed with the wealthy and handsome Felix, played by Aussie actor Jacob Elordi.
Oliver goes on to get invited to stay with Felix's family at their titular Saltburn estate, in England, one summer. By the end of the movie, Oliver takes his fixation to a horrifying level, getting rid of each of Felix’s family members one by one until he's lord of the manor.
Barry Keoghan, who played Oliver in Saltburn, opened up about unforgettable nude dance scene that almost didn't make it into the film
Image credits: MGM
Image credits: MGM
In the black comedy, directed by Emerald Fennell, Oliver celebrates his disturbing victory in a completely nude dance through the estate. The scene became the subject of viral TikToks and was much appreciated by viewers.
Nevertheless, Barry admitted that there was another version of the ending where Oliver walks through the manor instead, on his way to breakfast, where he is served runny eggs by the butler (a callback to an earlier breakfast scene in the film).
In the movie, Oliver becomes completely infatuated with the wealthy and handsome Felix, played by Jacob Elordi
Image credits: MGM
However, the result just didn't have the emotional and aesthetic intensity Emerald was looking for, Entertainment Weekly (EW) reported.
Emerald told EW: "A walkthrough didn't have that post-coital triumph. If we all did our job correctly, you are on Oliver's side.
“You don't care what he does, you want him to do it. You are both completely repulsed and sort of on his side. It's that kind of dance with the devil.
“It's like, 'F---. Okay, let's go.' And so at the end, it needed to have a triumph, a post-coital win, a desecration."
In the black comedy, directed by Emerald Fennell, Oliver celebrates a disturbing victory in a completely nude dance through Felix's estate
Image credits: MGM
The 31-year-old actor reportedly didn't hesitate when Emerald asked him to bare it all. Barry confessed: "It totally felt right. 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."
The notable nude scene was described as a “oner”, meaning one long take with a steadicam, because visually it was meant to be a perfect inverse of the tour Felix gives Oliver of the house at the beginning of the film, the writer-director explained.
Emerald reportedly consulted with Polly Bennett, a choreographer who taught Austin Butler how to dance like Elvis Presley for the 2022 movie Elvis.
People really appreciated that the memorable scene wasn't cut off from the movie
Polly used Barry's boxing experience to "choreograph the dance so that it felt like an act of spontaneous joy, but not so chaotic that it would be too difficult for us to follow Oliver from a practical point of view," the filmmaker explained.
Barry went on to admit he was naturally a bit hesitant to go fully naked for that first take. He recalled: "The initial thing was about me having no clothes on. I'm a bit, ehhh. 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.'"
"You kind of forget, because there’s such a comfortable environment created, and it gives you that license to go," Barry said of his intimidating dance scene
Image credits: imdb
Emerald admitted that they shot the dance 11 times in total, with the seventh being "technically perfect," but it lacking the "absolutely devilish joy" she was looking for.
"Barry, to his credit, did it four more times until the one that you see, which has this total f---ing evil joie de vivre that is impossible not to be on board with."
Barry admitted: "I didn't know I could dance like that, by the way. I was like, 'Wow. Where did them things come from?' Do ya know what I mean?"
You can watch the trailer for Saltburn below:
Ultimately, Emerald attributed Saltburn’s success to this: "He's just not screwing around — neither am I.
“I'm gratified by the amount of anecdotal evidence of people getting lucky after watching it."
She added: "The premiere was pretty interesting. I got a lot of phone calls the next day from, oh, I dunno..." She paused for effect, before adding with a devilish smirk, "...happy customers."
Saltburn came out in cinemas on November 22 and is still playing in theaters around the world. The film grossed $10 million domestically and $8 million overseas, for a cumulative global gross of $18 million.
Viewers described the film as a "sexual thriller we haven't seen in ages"
