Margot Robbie, Ayo Edebiri and More Celebrities React to the Film ‘Saltburn’
Just like Us, celebrities are shocked by the many twists and turns of the film Saltburn.
Writer/Director Emerald Fennell’s second feature film, the dark comedy thriller starring Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan came out in theaters in November but hit Amazon Prime on December 22, 2023, just in time for holiday viewing.
Keoghan plays Oliver Quick, a University of Oxford student who befriends and becomes obsessed with his wealthy fellow student, Felix Catton, played by Elordi. The two become friends and Felix invites Oliver to his family’s sprawling manor Saltburn for the summer. As Oliver gets deeper into the Catton family and their issues, things go off the rails.
The internet has been buzzing over everything Saltburn since it made its streaming debut. Many fans are swooning over Keoghan and Elordi and their sexually tense relationship. The one-liners of Rosamund Pike, who plays Elordi’s mother, have been memed. And the 2006 soundtrack, featuring “Murder on the Dance Floor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, has been hitting up the charts.
The film has received mixed critical reception but overwhelming fandom. The voting body at the 2024 Golden Globes must fall into this camp — Keoghan has been nominated for Best Actor, Drama and Pike for Best Supporting Actress in Any Category.
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Aside from two dreamboats and awards recognition, what people are really talking about when it comes to Saltburn are the wild scenes that include bathtub water, graves, full frontal, blackmail and murder. That’s just scratching the surface — and it's got people talking about the film nonstop, including celebrities.
Scroll below to see what celebrities have been saying about Saltburn
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Ellis-Bextor, a British singer and songwriter, knew her song “Murder on the Dance Floor” would soundtrack the last scene of Saltburn — Keoghan dancing around nude — but she didn’t realize exactly what it would look like. In a December 2023 interview with People, Ellis-Bextor had a couple surprises when she first saw the film. “Seeing it written down as a premise is different," she said. "I mean, Barry really went for it. And it's, like, the whole song!"
As of Tuesday, January 2, “Murder on the Dance Floor” was set to reenter the top 40 in the UK Singles Chart after peaking at No. 2 in 2001.
Now, the song will forever be associated with Keoghan’s nether regions, which Ellis-Bextor doesn’t mind. "I mean, he's never going to be able to hear that in the same way again," she adds. "And every time he's out and that comes on, people are going to think he's going to strip off!"
Becca Tilley
Former Bachelor contestant and host of the podcast “Scrubbing In,” Tilley took to her Instagram Story to give her thoughts about the film: “Regarding Saltburn: I heard way too many people talking about the bathtub scene and not enough warnings about the graveyard scene.”
The Weeknd
The singer shared a picture of a scene from Saltburn from what looks like a private theater. On his Instagram Story, The Weeknd lauded praise for Keoghan’s performance, which Keoghan reshared. “My brother with the absolute master class. @keoghan92. Saltburn out on streaming now.”
On Tuesday, January 2, it was announced that The Weeknd would be making his feature film debut in a film that he cowrote alongside Keoghan and actress Jenna Ortega.
Margot Robbie
In a Wednesday, January 3 interview with Variety, Margot Robbie, whose production company LuckyChap produced Saltburn, explained that she had read the bathtub scene in the script but didn’t find it so shocking because of the world building Fennell does. Robbie told Variety, “She’s so masterful at tone and plot; she gets you into it so quickly — you’re just immediately like, ‘I’m in this world.’ So by the time you get to something like the bathtub scene, she’s primed you for it. She’s got you. You’re, like, picking at a scab; you’re like, ‘I can’t help myself.’ Or like popping a pimple: ‘I know I shouldn’t squeeze but I’m gonna.’"
She joked that she wished she “could think of a prettier one” comparison. “But she does that. And I think there’s something intentionally disgusting and satisfying about where you get to in Saltburn,” the actress said. “Like, I think she wanted you to be equally as disgusted as you are titillated, and equally as shocked as you are by finding that depravity in yourself. She gets in your brain and she kind of taps into the most depraved parts of it, so that you’re complicit in the story. That’s the watercooler moment — the thing that people are talking about two weeks afterwards.”
Ayo Edebiri
The Bear star took to Letterboxd to share her thoughts about the film, specifically how Keoghan’s Oliver consumes many different things throughout the film but got picky about his eggs. She wrote, “My man’s is doing all of this but can’t eat runny eggs?”
Mitra Jouhari
Edebiri’s costar in season 2 of The Bear, actress and comedian Jouhari, had thoughts after watching Keoghan and Elordi’s tension. On Letterboxd, Jouhari mentioned a pivotal, jaw dropping scene in her review. She wrote, “My jaw dropped when he had *** with the *****.
