[Entrevue] “The Banshees of Inisherin”: Barry Keoghan’s Golden Roles

Barry Keoghan, 29, is a rising star. Despite his young age, his filmography is already very impressive. This is The killing of a sacred deer (The killing of the sacred deer), by Yorgos Lanthimos, where he plays a creepy teenager, who introduced him in 2017. He then shone in the war drama Dunkirk (Dunkirk), by Cristoforo Nolan.

Recently, he was the deceitful brigand in medieval phantasmagoria The Green Knight (The green knight), by David Lowery, and one of the superheroes ofEternal, by Chloe Zhao. In the series Chernobyl, it was Pavel, the civilian conscript. At the premiere in Venice of The Banshees of Inisherin (The banshees of Inisherin), nominated for an Academy Award, critics particularly praised his performance.

“I love this title, The Banshees of Inisherinwhich is just… so Irish, ”said Dublin native Barry Keoghan in a videoconference interview.

In Irish Celtic mythology, the banshee is a supernatural creature with a female aspect who announces imminent death with a terrifying cry, but only heard by the person concerned or one of his relatives. The banshees in Martin McDonagh’s film aren’t literal, although an old lady approaches who seems to savor every misfortune she prophesies.

“When I was a kid, my grandmother used to tell me stories of banshees roaming the moors,” says Barry Keoghan. As I said, you are very Irish. If you hear the banshee, you or someone in your family will soon die. “

Set on an Irish island, the action of the new film by award-winning director Martin McDonagh In Bruges (Welcome to Bruges) et Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (Three billboards near Ebbing, Missouri), takes place at a time when the country was torn apart by the civil war of 1922-1923. The choice of this fratricidal conflict as a background is not innocent, the film tells of a “pain of friendship” between two men who were almost brothers, in fact. They are Pádraic, a hitherto perpetually satisfied farmer (Colin Farrell), and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), a violinist who one fine morning decides he has had enough of his first – for the record, Farrell and Gleeson have already dealt with In Bruges.

Distraught, Pádraic splits his grievances between his sister Siobhán, a brilliant woman who suffocates in these cramped places (Kerry Condon), and Dominic, the son of the policeman who hides many misfortunes under his naive affability (Barry Keoghan).

“What struck me immediately in the scenario is his particular time, the latter recalls. I’ve never read a script with this kind of fluctuations in rhythm and tone – it’s both very funny and very sad. “

Done, The Banshees of Inisherin it is equally comedy and tragedy. However, absolute accuracy is maintained throughout. Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri rested on a similar balance.

“The trick was not to be sad when it was sad, and not to be humor when it was funny: you had to be honest, be authentic, always be in the moment”, sums up Barry Keoghan, who in the same breath specifies: “Dominic is like that, I believe. That is to say, he is absolutely and completely honest, all the time. This is one of the refreshing aspects of the film. I mean, the fact that Dominic is perceived as the village idiot, when perhaps he is the one who understands situations and people best. He is shrewd and sensitive: he is ignorant, but he is intelligent nonetheless. And he has no filter. He does not try to spare the sensitivities of others and says things as he observes them. While he can create discomfort, or hurt, it comes from an underlying kindness on his part, I think. “

healthy pressure

Dominic is a golden role in this case, as he is given many of the best reruns, comedic and dramatic.

Furthermore, Martin McDonagh, who is at the same time an esteemed playwright, has composed musical dialogues in which words, even phrases, become motifs repeated by different characters, with laughter or anguish, as the case may be. .

“It took a lot of concentration. With dialogue so magnificent, so rich, I didn’t want to go wrong. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes I needed Martin to be with me [hors champ], or who actually plays Dominic for me, between takes. “

At this memory, Barry Keoghan bursts out laughing, seeing in his mind the director who has become an actor intermittently.

“Martin is very honest, like Dominic. But he suits every actor. He allows him to communicate what he wants in a perfectly clear way and ensures that everyone intimately understands the intended intention. Only the best directors have that quality, in my opinion. “

On this point we can trust Barry Keoghan, the one who, as we mentioned from the beginning, has collaborated with some big names: Yorgos Lanthimos, Christopher Nolan, David Lowery, Chloé Zhao, without forgetting Matt Reeves during a fleeting, but memorable, appearance as Joker at the very end of success The Batman. This summer she also held her first male role in Burning of saltthe second production of Emerald Fennell, author of the amazing Promising young woman (A young woman full of promise).

When we list all these names and point out that he obviously chooses his projects carefully, Barry Keoghan blushes, before replying, “Would you mind repeating this list? I still can not believe it. I consider myself so lucky. It’s the same for my partners: the actresses and actors I’ve been able to work with … I’m so grateful … At the same time, he adds a pressure, a healthy pressure, in the sense that I want to be honorable. I know it sounds like a cliché, but the fact is that I am constantly learning from these professionals. I’m in perpetual training, really. “

Looking for challenge

After his talented past playmates, Barry Keoghan is on his second collaboration with Colin Farrell The killing of the sacred deer. There was therefore complicity, at times to the great chagrin of Martin McDonagh.

“All of my scenes with Colin were difficult to play, because Colin is hilarious,” explains Barry Keoghan. It is impossible to be serious with him. What happened was that Martin had to call us to order and say: “OK, kids! We have a movie to make! ” “

Ultimately, Dominic stands out as the young star’s most moving composition to date.

“I try to find characters that represent a challenge to play. For example, if she is a sinister character, I like that there are moments of vulnerability, if not redemption. I like complexity, contradictions… It’s paradoxical because, in Dominic’s case, he’s a completely innocent character in his own way. He is just pure soul. To play it, to embody it, that was my challenge. I wanted to show Martin that I could do it. I wanted to prove it to myself too. “

Let Barry Keoghan rest assured: he did it.

The film “The Banshees of Inisherin “
will be released in theaters on October 28th.

To see in video