Barry Keoghan and his Saltburn co-star Jacob Elordi got really close during the filming of the Emerald Fennell production.
The two stars were seen very flirtatious during the L.A. premiere of the film and Keoghan confirmed that it’s all very real and not just for cameras.
“I’m really flirtin’, ”Keoghan said in an interview with GQ. “We were constantly close. It ain’t just for the cameras and the premiere[s]. Me and Jacob—he’s like a brother to me, honestly. I think when you’re comfortable with someone, you can be as close as you want, you know what I mean? It’s not like, ‘Oh, don’t come near me’—it’s like, I’m comfortable. When I’m comfortable around people, I’m comfy.”
When asked if he had a similar relationship with friends growing up, he said, “Yeah, no.”
“But I’m comfortable with Jacob. Messin’ about. Havin’ a laugh. We’re bein’ lads,” he added. “We’ve just done a movie where we had to kiss, man. Look at the scenes we’ve done. You have to be comfortable with yourself.”
Keoghan also opened up about a flesh-eating disease that almost cost him an arm. The actor recalled that right before filming began for his Oscar-nominated performance on The Banshees of Inisherin, he caught the disease and worried he might die with doctors unable to completely reassure him that was not going to happen and telling him, “Well, we don’t know.”
Director Martin McDonagh recalled that at the time Keoghan “seemed to shrug it off,” adding, “We were only about four days out from shooting, and his arm was puffed up. But he was like, ‘Yeah, no, I’m going to be fine—I’ll see you on Tuesday.’ I went to the hospital thinking, Shit—is he going to die? Let alone, is he going to make the movie. But I came out of there energized and looking forward to it.”
Keoghan caught a case of necrotizing fasciitis which is an infection that eats up tissue under the skin.