Barry Keoghan on stripping clothes off for Saltburn’s final scene: ‘It totally felt right’

Get ready for a rollercoaster ride with the new psychological thriller, Saltburn. Brace yourself, because this one isn’t for the faint of heart. Viewers are finding it quite a challenge to watch, but hey, that’s what makes it so intriguing!

In a recent chat with EW, the talented Barry Keoghan, known for his mesmerizing role in Joker, spilled the beans about the film’s ending. Can you believe it? The original draft had him enjoying runny eggs served by the butler during breakfast. Talk about a bizarre callback to an earlier scene! But hey, sometimes things take a different turn, and that’s where the magic happens.

Filmmaker Emerald Fennell chimed in on the scene, sharing her thoughts on the post-coital triumph. It’s a delicate dance with the devil, where you find yourself both repulsed and strangely rooting for the character. You’re on Oliver’s side, even if you’re not quite sure why. It’s that twisted charm that keeps you hooked till the very end.

“A walkthrough didn’t have that post-coital triumph. If we all did our job correctly, you are on Oliver’s side,” Fennell said in the interview published in November. “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.”

Now, in the final cut, brace yourselves for a naked Barry dancing instead. “It totally felt right,” Keoghan said. “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.”

Although Keoghan was game for the scene, once it came to actually filming it, he had some hesitation at first.

“The initial thing was about me having no clothes on. I’m a bit, ehhh,” he recalled. “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.’”

So grab your popcorn, settle in, and prepare to be captivated by Saltburn. With its unexpected twists, intense performances, and a touch of Barry’s unique moves, this film is set to leave you both thrilled and slightly bewildered.

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