Barry Keoghan derived his experiences as a father while filming Andrea Arnold’s ‘Bird’. The ‘Dunkirk’ actor related his relationship with his son, Brando, is not a typical bond. Keoghan’s parents passed away at an early age, therefore, the actor had no role model on which to base his parenting. However, the ‘Eternals‘ actor states “love is pure” and he does not need to source it from the past to pass on to his child.
Barry and his ex-girlfriend, Alyson Kierans welcomed their son Brando in 2021 following the release of ‘Banshees of Inisherin‘. The actor related that he was inspired by his parenting skills to perform the role of Bug in Andrea Arnold’s film. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2024 and revolves around the dysfunctional relationship between Bug and Bailey, played by Nykiya Adams.
Barry Keoghan Gets Real About His Parenting Experience
Barry Keoghan related to Entertainment Weekly that he shares a novel relationship with his son Brando. This special bond inspired the actor to perform the role of Bug, a single father in ‘Bird’. He stated, “I’ll just say this — I didn’t have a father figure growing up, so even my relationship with my son isn’t quite of the normal father-son relationship.”
He continued, “Because I don’t have that figure to draw experience from and to base it on. Love, you don’t need anything to draw from, love is pure, and so I’m not on about that, but I’m on about little stuff like teaching your son this or teaching your daughter that.”
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Arnold’s drama premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and will be played again at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. Mubi has acquired the film’s distribution rights in the United Kingdom, Ireland, North America, and Turkey.
Keoghan On The Reality Of Bug And Bailey’s Relationship In ‘Bird’
Barry was inspired by his parenting skill to perform Bug’s role. “Going into this, I didn’t have that [normal experience], so it’s a very brother-sister kind of chemistry going on [for Bug and Bailey], which I felt was right for it,” he stated. “And you see that these days — there’s a lot of young fathers out there and young mothers and they’re almost like sibling-like, you know what I mean? Which is beautiful.”
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Barry revealed that he didn’t even know the plot of the drama while filming. “I didn’t know what the movie was about. I got handed my scenes a day before, a day or two before, and only knew my journey up until a certain point, so when I seen the movie at Cannes for the first time, I didn’t even know what it was about,” he related.
