Barry Keoghan used complex relationship with own father for Peaky Blinders film role

"It was the relationship, for me, and it was the absence I leaned into, and the experience I have in some similar ways to my absence of my dad, and the echoes I've heard of him and the kind of figure I've made him to be. I felt that was... a humanity. It sort of humanises Duke for me to show those vulnerabilities."

"Obviously, the kid's going to be an absolute livewire and violent and they're all reactions, they're all cries for help - not to justify each and every one. At the end of the day, there's an animalistic thing of the cub looking for its dad. That's what I brought in."

Barry Keoghan, 33, plays Erasmus "Duke" Shelby in the Netflix Peaky Blinders spin-off film, portraying the illegitimate and abandoned son of Tommy Shelby. Keoghan drew inspiration from his own challenging childhood, marked by parental absence and foster care placement following his mother's death from drug addiction. He explained that the absent father-son dynamic resonated deeply with his personal experiences, allowing him to bring authenticity and vulnerability to the character. Keoghan approached Duke's violent behavior and emotional outbursts as cries for help stemming from paternal abandonment, viewing the character's actions through an animalistic lens of a child seeking his father's recognition and connection.

Read at The Independent