Barry Keoghan names his favourite movies of all time
All film buffs know the struggle of picking your Letterboxd favourite four, a collection of iconic pictures that sit at the top of each profile as the user’s favourites. The task is so challenging that even movie stars seem to toil over the decision, something evident as Barry Keoghan offered up his choices.
At the premiere of his latest film, Saltburn, the Irish actor who plays the anti-hero protagonist Oliver in the new gothic film, shared the list of his favourite movies of all time. Despite becoming a darling of the indie movie scene thanks to his previous roles in The Banshees of Inisherin and The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, Keoghan’s tastes are surprisingly mainstream.
While his castmate Jacob Elordi picked out classics like Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now or Tim Burton’s gothic animation The Nightmare Before Christmas, their tastes do overlap. Both actors chose to put a superhero in their top four.
Both Elordi and Keoghan spotlighted Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman in their top list of favourite cinematic moments. While Elordi simply offered The Dark Knight a top spot, Keoghan went all in, dedicating three out of four slots to Nolan’s complete Batman trilogy.
Including 2005’s Batman Begins, the 2008 film The Dark Knight and the final offering of 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan’s superhero trilogy revolutionised the genre. Tackling the classic superhero flick with a new darkness and the kind of cinematic eye seen in his own movies like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer, the Batman trilogy is beloved and respected by most people in Hollywood.
The Dark Knight, especially, was a monumental commercial success. As the highest-grossing movie of 2008, it smashed the box office records. Seeing Heath Ledger take on the iconic role of the Joker, posthumously winning the Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, his depiction of the character is nothing short of remarkable. With an all-star cast and a visually stunning cinematic world, it makes sense why Keoghan would be willing to dedicate three top spots to the movies and why it might be a uniting force between the two co-stars.
Continuing the Batman connection, Keoghan was actually cast in the 2022 Matt Reeves project but receives very little screen time. Playing the Joker, it’s unknown whether he will reprise the role and be more present in the Batman Part II sequel – but his adoration for superhero movies is clear.
Keoghan’s other pick is more surprising. Cool Hand Luke is his first choice for his top four. A 1967 prison drama, the film stars Paul Newman at the peak of his career, just before he became Butch Cassidy.
Also starring George Kennedy, the actor won the Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his role as Dragline. An anti-establishment film that was released at the height of the 1960s political and social unrest, Cool Hand Luke became a hit as opposition to the Vietnam War and violence became increasingly popular.
Barry Keoghan’s favourite movies:
- Cool Hand Luke (1967)
- Batman Begins (2005)
- The Dark Knight (2008)
- The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
