Barry Keoghan is here to teach us all about fatherhood, and trust me, it’s not exactly a textbook case.
So, the 31-year-old Irishman is now starring in Bird, a movie where he plays a single dad to a 12-year-old daughter. The daughter, by the way, is portrayed by Nykiya Adams, who probably had to remind Barry where she left her juice box between scenes. And while you might think Barry took some notes from the Dad 101 manual, you’d be wrong — the dude’s working with a blank slate here. “Father figure? Never met him,” Barry basically told Entertainment Weekly. He didn’t have a father figure growing up, which means when it comes to dad stuff, he’s kind of winging it, like when you’re trying to assemble IKEA furniture without the instructions.
But Barry’s not sweating it. He’s got a secret weapon: love. Cue the “awwws.” According to Barry, love is like the duct tape of parenting — it can fix anything, even when you have no clue what you’re doing. But he admits that love doesn’t exactly cover the finer details, like teaching your kid how to ride a bike, or how to properly stack Pringles without crushing them.
Barry’s got a 2-year-old son named Brando, whom he welcomed into the world with ex Alyson Sandro in 2022. Yes, that’s right, he named his kid after Marlon Brando, probably hoping some legendary acting skills would rub off through osmosis or something. And apparently, his Bird role had him reflecting hard on his own chaotic journey as a dad.
“I mean, I don’t know what normal parenting is,” Barry mused, like a philosopher deep in thought after realizing they’ve been using the wrong TV remote for a week. His approach? A sort of “brother-sister” dynamic with the 12-year-old character. Because, let’s be real, Barry’s probably closer to playing Fortnite with his kid than making PTA meetings.
Barry went on to explain that the modern parenting world is full of young moms and dads who are, well, still figuring it out. They’re less like the strict, authoritative parents of yesteryear and more like older siblings trying to convince the kid that pizza counts as a vegetable. And you know what? Barry thinks that’s “beautiful,” which is a nice way of saying, “We’re all in this confusing mess together, aren’t we?”
Of course, in the movie, Barry’s character has to step up as a dad and make some big life decisions, the kind that could shape his daughter’s future or, at the very least, prevent her from getting a tattoo of a dolphin. But Barry’s main concern is that whole “how do I even be a dad to a 12-year-old?” thing. He’s used to wrangling a toddler, not a pre-teen who probably rolls her eyes so hard they could power a small town.
Barry’s message to the world is this: you don’t need a manual to be a parent, just a lot of love, some trial and error, and the occasional sibling-like vibe to keep things interesting. And maybe, just maybe, a little bit of duct tape.
