Barry Keoghan opens up about struggling to adjust to fatherhood: 'I'm not ashamed of it'

In Bird, Barry Keoghan plays the young father to a 12-year-old daughter. The movie follows Bailey (Nykiya Adams) as she becomes an adolescent in Kent, England, surrounded by violence and poverty.

Keoghan’s character is nicknamed Bug — presumably after his myriad bug tattoos, including a many-legged creature on his face. He’s a loving parent, though often misguided by his own attempts to earn money, including a scheme to irritate a frog so much that it produces psychedelic venom that he can sell.

Keoghan told Yahoo Entertainment that, as a father himself, he relates to Bug’s sometimes “selfish” nature.

“When you have a child … it’s a big moment. You can kind of get in yourself and go through this place of feeling like you’re on the outside, almost,” he said. “Like that your child doesn’t want to be connected to you because a child only really wants their mommy at that stage.”

Like Bug, he had the experience of “not feeling important” to his child and feeling more like a sibling than “stepping up and having responsibility and leadership.”

He credits director Andrea Arnold for letting him get to a “comfortable place” where he could confront his feelings about fatherhood.

“[My son] Brando, he’s two, and he doesn’t chat back to me like [Adams] does. He will, though. He’s already trying to,” Keoghan said. “But like Bug, I don’t have the experience to draw from, like things your father shows you or what your mom shows you. I speak very openly about this now, and I'm not ashamed of it.”

“Instead, what I had was my granny playing the role of two,” he explained. “[Arnold] allowed me to be that person.”

Keoghan’s mom died of a heroin overdose when he was 12, and multiple members of his family had substance use disorder. He spent seven years in foster homes before being taken in by his grandmother.

After seeing Arnold’s 2009 film Fish Tank, which follows a teen girl living in public housing in the U.K., Keoghan added Arnold to a list of directors he wanted to work with. When she asked him to “meet for fish and chips” in London and spoke to him about the role, he said yes before even seeing a script.

“Since I’ve been about 16 or 17, I’ve been like, ‘Andrea Arnold! Andrea Arnold! Andrea Arnold!’ I spoke it into existence,” Keoghan said.

Franz Rogowski in "Bird." (MUBI/Courtesy Everett Collection)

His co-star Franz Rogowski, who plays a whimsical traveler named Bird who befriends Bailey, shared a similar sentiment.

“It was an easy decision to make because there was no script, so I couldn't read something that I don't like,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “But there was a yes to an adventure, to something uncertain, something undefined, where I would not have to prepare in order to become something, but to just bring myself and surrender.”

Even Adams, who got the lead role in the film after showing up to an open audition at her school because she wanted to get out of class, took a leap of faith. Though it’s her first film role, Keoghan couldn’t praise her enough.

“To be put on camera like that when you’re going through adolescence … in general, it’s very hard to show your feelings and to speak when boom mics and cameras aren’t around,” he said. “So adding all those layers in and being able to do that — I’ve got massive respect.”

Barry Keoghan and Nykiya Adams in "Bird." (MUBI/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Keoghan knows a thing or two about having a breakout moment. He nabbed an Oscar nomination in 2023 for his supporting role in The Banshees of Inisherin and a Golden Globe nod in 2024 for starring in Saltburn. He also starred in his girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter’s viral “Please Please Please” music video.

He said that “recognition is wonderful,” but he’s trying not to “get too fixated.”

“[If people] recognize my work, brilliant! I’m very grateful for … the platform to bring people on a journey,” he said. “And, selfishly, to show my range in a way that can bring these characters to life.”

As for what he takes on next, Keoghan said, “Less is best.”

“I’m figuring out how growing as a human and focusing on your well-being and mental state is beneficial to you and your craft,” he said. “At this moment in particular, I’m having a massive connection with my young boy, and picking roles I’m excited about. I’m in a really nice sweet spot.”

Bird is in theaters now.