Barry picked to play complex character in Saddam movie

OSCAR-NOMINATED actor Barry Keoghan has landed a new role in a film about the final days of Saddam Hussein.

Based on Will Bardenwerper’s best-selling book The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid, the film delves deep into the life of the Iraqi dictator.

Keoghan, right, will play the role of an American soldier tasked with guarding Hussein in the months leading up to his trial and eventual execution in 2006.

Directed by Chernobyl director Johan Renck, Amo Saddam sees Dubliner Keoghan’s soldier begin to struggle with separating fact and fiction when Hussein begins to try sway him to his side.

Swedish director Renck told The Hollywood Reporter that he hopes to portray life in Baghdad in 2006 ‘in a really immersive, authentic way’ and avoid the ‘typical tropes of a war movie’. He added: ‘So you have this American enclave with walls around it while right outside is Baghdad, this Goya-esque painting of sectarian violence where all the chaos unleashed by these actions of the Western world are taking place. That contrast is something we tap into in the script.

‘It’s a prison movie, it’s a war movie and it’s kind of a horror movie almost.’ While the role of Hussein is yet to be cast, Renck said he wants a ‘really good actor from the region, who speaks Arabic and can authentically embody the role’. Amo Saddam producer Michael Parets added: ‘Barry has proven himself time and time again to be an actor who is so adept at playing really complex characters and we couldn’t be happier having him as our lead for what is going to be a challenging, ambitious and hopefully really special film.’