“Saltburn” was added to the Amazon Prime Video lineup on December 22, 2023, and has been keeping the streaming world in suspense ever since. According to the website, Emerald Fennell’s psychological thriller became the most successful Prime Video film of 2023 in just nine days, the film is currently still in the top 10 most streamed films in numerous countries – and is also making a big impression on TikTok, Instagram and Co.
It mainly concerns three to four scenes involving the main actors Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees Of Inisherin”) and which are greeted by viewers with equal parts shock, disgust and admiration. Warning: Spoilers follow from here!
One of these scenes takes place halfway through the film, when Keoghan, playing the role of young Oliver, sees his college friend Felix (Jacob Elordi) masturbating in the bathtub on the Saltburn estate. before, after Felix’s departure, Oliver presses his face into the remaining bathwater and finally begins to lick it up. In an interview with The actor has now explained what he really thinks about this memorable scene and how he prepared for it during filming.
Barry Keoghan delved into the depths of Oliver’s character for the bathtub scene
Barry Keoghan looked closely at the script for “Saltburn” and considered what might bring the demanding scene to full fruition: “I thought, ‘I’m going to show a little maturity here and challenge my commitment to my art and myself.’ I do anything that moves the story forward and if there are good reasons for it, creatively speaking. I don’t do anything just for the ‘wow’ factor. When the scene happened, I was ready for it. Because it felt good for Oliver.”
Keoghan explained further why he wanted to play the scene with so much intensity: “Of course it’s disgusting. But when you think about how much obsession this boy brings. That’s exactly why I made the decision, rubbing my face against the drain hole and not gulping down the water right away – because I wanted to take it to a new level. Oliver doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s confused. He thinks, ‘I just want to be part of it. I want to be it. I want to be.’ I discovered that myself with the character.’
The much-discussed grave scene was also partly improvised
In the same interview, Keoghan also talked about the no less infamous grave scene in which Oliver masturbates on the grave of the dead Felix. The decision to actually put his penis in the grave came from Keoghan himself. He asked director Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) to hold a so-called closed set on the day of filming, with only the most necessary and important crew members present:
You can find out whether Keoghan was wearing a prosthetic penis in this scene and in the film’s final scene, where he dances naked around the Saltburn estate to the Sophie-Ellen Baxter song “Murder On The Dancefloor” here: