Irish Actor: Barry Keoghan lands lead in I Want To Be Like You

Young Dublin actor Barry Keoghan has landed the lead in Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s new coming-of-age drama I Want To Be Like You.

Keoghan plays Pawel, a second generation immigrant and budding artist, who lives with his mother in Birmingham. When his mother attempts to bring him to Bulgaria for the summer holidays he instead sets out to find his hero, the legendary French painter Arnaud.

Keoghan is best known to Irish audiences for his role as Wayne in hit Irish drama Love/Hate. He has also had star-making turns in Mark O’Connor’s Stalker and Yann Demange’s ’71. He will next be seen in Rebecca Daly’s Mammal, in which he plays a lead role alongside veteran Australian actress Rachel Griffiths. Keoghan will also star in Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy upcoming Traders, with Killian Scott; and Adam Smith’s Trepass Against Us, with Brendan Gleeson and Michael Fassbender.

I Want To Be Like You is based off a script by British writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz, who co-wrote the Oscar winning Ida with director Pawel Pawlikowski. The film marks Bojanov’s second feature and English-language début, with his first feature, Ave, playing Cannes Critics’ Week in 2011 en route to winning 20 festival prizes.

I Want To Be Like You is a Danish/UK/Belgian/Bulgarian co-production. Shooting will take place in and around Copenhagen, the West Midlands in the UK, and Belgium, commencing in July.