Barry Keoghan to Star in Saddam Hussein Movie

A new film is chronicling the final days of Saddam Hussein’s life, and it’s set to star Barry Keoghan.

Amo Saddam is based on Will Bardenwerper’s bestseller The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid.

Keoghan won’t play the notorious Iraq dictator, however. He’s been cast as an American soldier tasked with guarding Saddam during his trial for crimes against humanity, which happened between October 2005 and December 2006.

The director of HBO miniseries Chernobyl, Johan Renck, helms Amo Saddam. He outlined his vision of the film to The Hollywood Reporter.

“So you have this American enclave with walls around it while right outside is Baghdad,” says Renck. “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,”

“In a weird way, it’s a prison movie, it’s a war movie and it’s kind of a horror movie almost. There’s a little bit of genre-bending going on.”

Keoghan’s best-known for one of 2023’s standout performances in Saltburn. Read our Saltburn review of a repulsive, dirty, twisted reflection on class.