Barry Keoghan Opens Up About Being Objectified Following Saltburn

In Vanity Fair's 30th Annual Hollywood Issue the Irish actor has bared all about his role as Oliver Quick, an Oxford University student invited to a lavish estate owned by the family of his classmate Felix for the 2007 summer holiday --- played by Jacob Elordi.

Along with more fame, Keoghan was also thrust into the court of public opinion when he stripped for the film. Keoghan touched on whether he felt objectified by the public after the scene went viral online. It also has brought about a number of jokes in the media, on red carpets and during award shows.

Keoghan danced completely naked around the mansion to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Murder on the Dancefloor - no modesty sock was in use either. The audience was given full frontal camera shots throughout the more than 3-minute scene which, director Emerald Fennell needed 11 takes of. 

"It’s crazy. It can be detrimental to the mind and your mental state if you read into it too much or you look at too much stuff being said," Keoghan says.

"But I wouldn’t go there if I wasn't prepared for that, or if I wasn't open to receiving what people want to say. I think it shows an act of maturity in your craft, and if it justifies the story and moves it forward, why not?"

The 31-year-old actor then compared the scene to cinema from other countries.

"You look at European cinema and they tend to have a lot of scenes that involve nudity, and it's not a massive thing, really. But I think it’s true art. It really is. And it's true vulnerability as well," Keoghan told the publication.

He looked at the scene as art and "putting yourself out there in the most vulnerable state."

"It's beautiful to look at. I’m not saying it's because of my body, but it's freeing to see that body move around in the way it does. It’s like a moving painting, almost."

As for the idea of being naked on screen in front of millions of people, it didn't concern Keoghan. It was in fact the dancing element that caused him the most worry.

"I'm pretty impressed with how I moved. I was like, 'Wow.' In the final moment of the dance, I twirl twice, and if you look at my footwork, it’s linked to boxing. It's all about footwork and moving the hips and stuff like that. That definitely came into factor, subconsciously. I was afraid to move my hips and move my body in a certain way, but the set was made quite comfortable for me. Once the camera goes up, I always feel a bit safe, and I have the license to kind of waltz in that environment," Keoghan says.

As for whether Keoghan related to his character of Oliver in anyway, the dancing was one of the few things.

"It's one thing that I did relate to. Not dancing around a manor of that sort with that fecking drip hanging about --- but I sing out loud, I dance silly and move my body silly," he says.

Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue, on newsstands March 5.