Has Barry Keoghan seen *those* 'Saltburn'-themed candles? The 'Masters of the Air' star weighs in.
While Barry Keoghan has another highly anticipated project on the way, he can't escape the Saltburn fanfare -- candles and all.
The 31-year-old Irish star is the talk of Tinseltown after his turn in Emerald Fennell's thriller black comedy, co-starring Jacob Elordi and Rosamund Pike. The role has not only garnered Keoghan worldwide attention, but also critical acclaim as he's earned BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations in the process. While we won't spoil it for you, some eyebrow-raising activity in a bathtub has even inspired an array of themed candles with scents like "Jacob Elordi's Bathwater," cementing the movie and Keoghan in 2024 popular culture.
Of the candles, Keoghan jokes to ET's Cassie DiLaura, "I have a few of them... I hand them out as gifts... Nah, I don't."
As for the attention and sex symbol chatter, Keoghan says, "It's crazy... It's definitely new to me. I've not been in this position before, but it's nice to kind of go from that to this, you know, to show that range as well. You know the reaction has just been... just unreal."
That range he's referring to is shifting gears from a University of Oxford student who dives into the world of his wealthy classmate in Saltburn to a lieutenant in Apple TV+'s war drama series, Masters of the Air, co-executive produced by Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg. The series centers on the 100th Bomb Group -- nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth -- in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. With the militant energy of the project, there was not a lot of room for the cast -- which also includes Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, and Raff Law -- to get into good trouble.
"You've got Captain Dale Dye there who, you know, if you wear your hat the wrong way, I mean, you'll get told off," Keoghan says of the decorated Marine veteran who was a military advisor on the project. "Kind of from day one -- I remember I cracked a joke to him, I said something and he just didn't laugh and I was like... 'I'll fix my hat, sorry.'"
Still, the actors had pockets of time to bond off-camera.
"There was a good amount of banter on set," Law says. "I think there was definitely a balance between having a laugh and getting on as mates and lads but also being professional and also the story and we're in that kind of army, air force mentality as well, so you kinda gotta keep that within you at times as well."
Still, Law assures, "There was definitely weeks where we had a bit of time off filming and we spent time together, go to the pub with the boys, had some fun times in Oxford as well... We definitely had some fun."
Meanwhile, thanks to Masters of the Air, Keoghan got to work with Butler, who previously played Elvis Presley in Elvis. He later worked with his Saltburn co-star, Elordi, who also played Presley in Priscilla. However, despite his viral-level dance moves at the end of Saltburn and his ties to two other Elvises of the silver screen, Keoghan does not have his eye on a Presley project himself.
As he says, "I ain't no Elvis, let me tell you."
Masters of the Air premieres Jan. 26 on Apple TV+.
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