Actor Barry Keoghan plays the father of two children in his upcoming movie, Bird. But even the Oscar-winning actor admits playing the role of a father — on screen or in real life — can be tough.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly taken from the film's screening at Toronto International Film Festival, and published Thursday, September 12, Keoghan, 31, revealed that he doesn't have a "normal" relationship with his son — 2-year-old Brando, whom he shares with his ex-girlfriend, Alyson Sandro.
"I didn't have a father figure growing up, so even my relationship with my son isn't quite of the normal father-son relationship," Keoghan said, "because I don't have that figure to draw experience from and to base it on. Love, you don't need anything to draw from, love is pure, and so I'm not on about that, but I'm on about little stuff like teaching your son this or teaching your daughter that."
Keoghan, who plays a man named Bug in the Andrea Arnold-directed movie, revealed that his character's relationship with his 12-year-old daughter, Bailey — played by 14-year-old Nykiya Adams — felt more sibling-like than parental.
"Going into this, I didn't have that [normal experience], so it's a very brother-sister kind of chemistry going on [for Bug and Bailey], which I felt was right for it," he said. "And you see that these days — there's a lot of young fathers out there and young mothers and they're almost like sibling-like, you know what I mean? Which is beautiful."
But because of the 10-year age difference between Keoghan's on-screen daughter and his real-life son, he was at a loss on where to draw from when playing the father of a pre-teen.
"[Bug] has to step up as a father and make very important choices and decisions, and they may not be the best ones," said Keoghan. "But for me, the experience of playing a father was — obviously I'm a father, but at that age, she's 12 in the movie, and it's like, what do I base it on?"
Per IMDB, Bird is set to premiere in U.S. theaters on Friday, November 8.
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