Marvel villain Barry Keoghan on his “OH SHIT” Angelina Jolie moment in “incredible” new movie, The Eternals

"Marvel villain"

That’s how we’d like you to refer to Barry Keoghan now. The actor's star continues to rise as it looks like he may be about to join the ranks of some of the most illustrious evil-doers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Thanos, Loki and fellow Irishman, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, who stole the show as Ebony Maw in Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War. Keoghan is Druig in The Eternals, a race of all-powerful superhumans who may or may not be the next big bad guys and gals of the MCU. All will be revealed in 2021... Before The Eternals is released though, you can catch him in the super new Irish gangster thriller, Calm With Horses, starring alongside Niamh Algar and Cosmo Jarvis in a trio of terrific performances. Calm With Horses, following its recent digital release, is available to watch right now in the comfort of your own home, perfect viewing for the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend (or whenever, because Time has no meaning now). To celebrate the movie's home release, we caught up with Barry on lockdown to chat about one of the best Irish movies in years, the joys of bingeing on Tiger King and his upcoming passion project about real-life outlaw, Billy The Kid. You can check out the full interview right here or just hit Play below...  

"That's crazy!"

However, we obviously couldn't let him go without revealing some Marvel movie news and so wanted to know exactly what this "Marvel villain" could tell us about his next big blockbuster, The Eternals...

"Marvel villain, that’s crazy! Yeah, The Eternals, man, it’s been pushed back now to February [2021] and for the right reasons. Obviously everyone’s going to be cautious going to the cinema. Even when this pandemic does stop, everyone’s going to be a little cautious. So it’s good to kind of have a few safety months of actually people taking the time to be super-cautious. The Eternals was an amazing one to do. Chloé Zhao [the director], who did The Rider, man, what a f*ckin’ dream to work with. She was on my list, y’know, and still is on my list and I want to work with her again. If you’ve never seen The Rider, go and watch it. What she does with this movie, it’s incredible. Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie and all of the very strong cast that we have, they were just a joy to work with and they made it really, really easy and simple for me.”

"Oh shit!"

Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie are obviously some pretty huge Hollywod stars to be working with, so we wanted to know does Barry ever get starstruck by his fellow cast members? Any “holy shit” moments when meeting them...

“Yeah man! ALL of them! I’m not even messin’! And I will always be like that because, y’know, you can’t play that off. That’s a genuine feeling when I meet these people. I’m with my girlfriend and I’m like, 'oh shit! What do I say to this person!?' You grow up watching these people on screen and after a week or so you may get used to them, but like you’re still pinching yourself going, 'I’m working with Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie!' These are two of the greats I’ve watched growing up and just amazing people as well. It always does get me, it always does. And I think that’s a great thing as well. I don’t ever want to be working and be like “yeah, sure, that’s just…”. There is always a fan boy in me, I think it’s great. Lovely they are, man, and they’re brilliant. They just switch it on and they’re amazing off screen as well. Salma is just a very maternal type and looks after everyone on set, and the same with Angelina, they’re just looking after people. It’s just a nice set to be on, because it is a bit intimidating going on to a big Marvel movie, it can be. It wasn’t for me, but it can be because again, it’s such a huge production and all of that, so they’re just reassuring everyone, making everyone comfy. The whole cast and crew even, everyone, I mean, what a movie to work on."

And the million dollar MCU question, will Barry be back for more Marvel movies?

“Oooooh, I can’t tell you THAT now, can I!? It’s embedded into me, it’s embedded into me! I can’t say anything! You’re gonna love this, you’re going to absolutely love this. To bring this to Ireland is going to be a joy. I can’t wait for everyone to see it because it’s just going to really, really surprise everyone."

We can't wait, roll on 2021. In the meantime, make sure to check out Calm With Horses right now on Video On Demand (VOD) platforms. They include iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Sky Store, Virgin Movies, Talk Talk, BT TV, Curzon Home Cinema, BFI Player, Rakuten TV and Volta. Clip via Element Pictures Distribution