Jo Koy did not hold back with his jokes during his 2024 Golden Globe Awards ceremony monologue. While throwing out a few disses and snide comments right and left, the host, 52, joked about actor Barry Keoghan‘s graphic scene from his film Saltburn.
“Where’s your penis seated?” Jo bluntly asked Barry, 31, who was sitting in the audience laughing. Jo then quipped, “That was the real star of the show.”
The scene in question showed Barry’s character Oliver Quick’s midsection. Although there are multiple graphic moments throughout the movie, viewers recall Barry’s shining moment clearly.
While speaking with Variety in a past interview about his performance, Barry explained how he reacted to the script for Saltburn.
BARRY KEOGHAN THE MAN THAT YOU ARE pic.twitter.com/5w42AzMdG0
— ۟ (@saltburne) January 7, 2024
“I looked at that and went, ‘I’m going to show some maturity here and my commitment to my craft and challenge myself,'” the Masters of the Air actor noted. “I’ll do anything once that moves the story forward, and if there’s a right reason for it creatively. I’m not going to do something because it’s out there or for the ‘wow’ factor. And when this came up, I was totally up for it. Because it felt right for Oliver. Now, were there discussions about it? Yeah, of course. Because I want to know motives and objectives.”
Barry elaborated about “the bath scene,” adding, “Yeah, it’s disgusting. But when you get into it, it’s a different level of obsession this boy has. That’s why I made the choice to rub my face along the plug hole and not slurp it straight away — because I’m trying to take it to a new level. Oliver doesn’t even know what he’s doing; he’s confused. He’s thinking, ‘I just want to be part of it. I want it to be on me. I want it to be me.’ I was discovering that with the character, as well.”
Saltburn‘s director, Emerald Fennell, ensured that the cast felt safe while working on set, Barry insisted. He told the outlet, “Emerald is so good about creating that safe environment. Even the grave scene, I was like, ‘Can I have a closed set? I’d like to try something.’ On paper, [Oliver] wasn’t written to do that. But I wanted to see what actually happened, where I would take it. I wanted to be confused and let my body lead the way. What am I doing? How can I get closer? It’s trying to find that new level of obsession.”