{"id":482384,"date":"2026-05-13T10:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/482384\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T10:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:11:12","slug":"barry-keoghan-on-butterfly-jam-the-beatles-batman-ii-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/482384\/","title":{"rendered":"Barry Keoghan On ‘Butterfly Jam’, The Beatles & ‘Batman II’: Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBarry Keoghan<\/a> returns to the Cannes<\/a> Film Festival with Riley Keough<\/a> in Kantemir Balagov<\/a>\u2019s Butterfly Jam<\/a>, a family drama set in and around an East Coast Circassian community. Balagov won Best Director in Un Certain Regard for\u00a0Beanpole in 2019. His first film in English, Butterfly Jam\u00a0marks the first feature involvement for Keoghan\u2019s Wolfcub Productions and will be the opening-night film in Directors\u2019 Fortnight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe actor spoke to us during a day off from portraying drummer Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes\u2019 four-part Beatles<\/a> film blockbuster. However, he declined to confirm whether or not he\u2019ll return as the Joker <\/a>in\u00a0The Batman: Part II.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: What can you tell us about Butterfly Jam?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tBARRY KEOGHAN<\/strong>: It\u2019s about a Circassian family. Their dad is a chef and his son is a wrestler, and it\u2019s set in this tight community of Circassian people. It\u2019s focused quite a lot on the relationship between the father and the son.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: And are you the father?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Yeah. I play the father. [Laughs.] I\u2019m stepping into those kinds of roles now. Crazy. Now I\u2019m the dad.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: So, give me more of a sense of what the movie is about\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: It\u2019s a hard one. Not a hard one to describe it, but we\u2019re giving the plot away. It\u2019s Kantemir Balagov, and\u2026 you\u2019ve seen\u00a0Beanpole, I hope? I know you have. Incredible movie. And he\u2019s someone that I\u2019ve wanted to work with for ages. I remember seeing\u00a0Beanpole\u00a0and reaching out to him. Also, I always look at if I\u2019m doing a commercial movie and then I\u2019m doing an indie. I want to go in between, step into independent movies and step into commercial movies with brilliant directors. And so I\u2019m trying to find that balance. And Kantemir\u2019s movie came at the right time. It\u2019s a proper sort of European movie set in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it\u2019s gorgeous. Jomo Fray (Nickel Boys) shot it. Jomo\u2019s a brilliant cinematographer. And again, it\u2019s a family-driven movie based in the kitchen, a lot of cooking, even though I don\u2019t cook\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I\u2019ve been reading in the New York Times that you\u2019re not up to much in the kitchen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: [Laughs.] Yeah, so that was a lot of acting. But it\u2019s a movie where I get to learn about culture. We had a dialect coach there in Circassian. Kantemir surrounds himself with incredible people, people like Riley Keough who\u2019s absolutely brilliant in everything she does. It was a breath of fresh air to work with her. And same with our young lad, Talha Akdogan, who plays my son, Pyteh. He\u2019s absolutely brilliant. It was his first movie.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Barry<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBarry Keoghan <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJamie McCarthy<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: So who does Riley play?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Riley plays my sister. She has a kind of raw energy that you don\u2019t know where she\u2019s going, and it\u2019s unpredictable. And it\u2019s really astonishing to watch and\u00a0act alongside.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: There\u2019s a production image of you and Riley dancing. What\u2019s going on there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: We\u2019re dancing in the kitchen, to a Circassian song. Again, we were learning about the culture and learning to dance\u2026 It was actually incredible. And it was my first movie that I got to have my production company Wolfcub Productions on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Barry<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBarry Keoghan and Riley Keough dancing in the kitchen in \u2018Butterfly Jam\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWolfcub Productions<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Congratulations!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: I have this animal theme going, spiritually for me, with\u00a0The Killing of a Sacred Deer\u00a0and\u00a0Bird\u00a0and now\u00a0Butterfly Jam\u00a0and now Wolfcub. So there\u2019s an animal theme with Cannes and me.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was a good moment for our company to step in and build our slate. We\u2019ve got a few projects in the works that I can\u2019t talk about just yet, but we\u2019ve got something going with Netflix, a TV series. And we\u2019ve got another two projects in the works as well. It was a really nice moment to celebrate as well that our first movie gets Directors\u2019 Fortnight opening night.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I want to quickly scoot back to dancing because I was reading up on the Circassians and they do this dagger courtship dance. Did any of the choreographers show you anything like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: No, it was more like Kantemir and people on set [taught us]. Again, it\u2019s organic. It\u2019s supposed to be done so that not every single move is in the right step. It\u2019s loose. It\u2019s a culture thing. It\u2019s like Irish dancing as well. And when our Irish dancing is performed, it\u2019s quite spectacular to look at. But people are also doing it in pubs as well, and everyone\u2019s up having to\u00a0sing. So\u00a0it was me and Riley having a moment as brother and sister, and the song comes on and it\u2019s beautiful.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: <\/strong>And we know you\u2019re a good mover from\u00a0Saltburn<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: [Laughs.] Oh yeah, we know that, though clothes stay on in this one, Baz. They\u2019re covered with tea towels and kitchen clothes. But, anyways.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: There are Circassian enclaves in New Jersey. Did you film there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Well, there\u2019s a big Circassian community in Jersey, but we filmed a lot of it in France.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: How so?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Why Not Productions [the production company behind the film] is a French company. And we just filmed a lot there and then filmed the exteriors in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Where were you in France?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Dunkirk, actually, and Lille. So I was jogging on the Dunkirk Beach, bringing back memories\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: \u2026Of filming Christopher Nolan\u2019s\u00a0Dunkirk?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Yeah. And it reminds you of the therapeutic sort of healing side of making movies. It reminds you that you\u2019re part of a community and a circle of people that I\u2019ve always just wanted to create. Every movie does that for me, but when it\u2019s an independent one you just feel it a little bit more, you feel the hunger on set and almost just going back to that really true form of filmmaking.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I think you crave that raw sense of making movies with people you love and admire.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Without trying, it creates a safeness for you to be vulnerable. And I always feel when you allow your vulnerabilities to come in, that\u2019s where you get really strong performances. It\u2019s always there on independent movies. And it is on commercial movies as well. But unfortunately, with bigger movies, there\u2019s more equipment, there are more sets and more people.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd for me, I\u2019m quite shy and I get quite intimidated by that. Even when people aren\u2019t meaning to do it, it\u2019s just the nature of how big a movie can be. But I\u2019ve been very blessed in the sense that any big commercial movie I\u2019m on, they always seem to really step in and help me make it so comfortable for me to do it. And I\u2019ve never done stage or anything else. I can\u2019t really perform in front of many, many people\u2026 Hence The Beatles [The Beatles \u2013 A Four-Film Cinematic Event]. I\u2019m on that now.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: How\u2019s that going?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: I can\u2019t say much about it, even though I did bring it up. It\u2019s going incredible. Again, and it\u2019s such a big family out there, and it\u2019s such a big movie, but it has that indie soul to it, where I\u2019m feeling super safe to reach and bring forward the most vulnerable truths and the most\u2026 Just really dig deep with the performance as Ringo [Starr]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRead the digital edition of Deadline\u2019s\u00a0Disruptors<\/a>\/Cannes magazine\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: This is four distinct films directed by Sam Mendes about each of the Beatles, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: Yeah, and Sam is such a legend and family now, and everyone\u2019s family out there. Greig Fraser [cinematographer on\u00a0Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two] is absolutely brilliant as well. It\u2019s such a tight, lovely group, and I\u2019m learning lots by watching Sam and by watching Greig on the camera and getting back into my photography as well. And I\u2019ve got the best DOP in the world beside me to learn from.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Prompted by this turn in the conversation, when do you think you will get round to directing your first feature?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tKEOGHAN<\/strong>: I\u2019m not sure yet. I did a short film [in 2020] called\u00a0Animal, and I chose a young lad from a boxing club to lead the movie, and I picked a lot of non-actors, and I shot it in black and white 16mm.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was for Gucci and Dazed. There\u2019s a lot of Kubrick influences in there, and a lot of frames that I learned from Yorgos [Lanthimos]. But, yeah, I\u2019d love to direct a feature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barry Keoghan returns to the Cannes Film Festival with Riley Keough in Kantemir Balagov\u2019s Butterfly Jam, a family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[69378,1046,210986,10404,190863,11519,434,210231,18,117,19,17,210987,5150,27539,11752],"class_list":{"0":"post-482384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-barry-keoghan","9":"tag-beatles","10":"tag-butterfly-jam","11":"tag-cannes","12":"tag-cannes-2026","13":"tag-cannes-film-festival","14":"tag-celebrities","15":"tag-disruptors","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-kantemir-balagov","21":"tag-qa","22":"tag-riley-keough","23":"tag-the-batman-part-ii"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116566735062243906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}