Jacob Elordi spills tea on star who nearly played Saltburn lead – and fans have thoughts

Saltburn star Jacob Elordi has revealed that Barry Keoghan wasn’t the first choice to play the film’s thirsty lead role – and fans have many thoughts about this revelation.

Directed by Emerald Fennell,  Saltburn  – a blackly comedic psychological thriller – sees Oliver Quick (Keoghan) become enamoured with popular posh boy Felix Catton (Elordi), while they're studying at Oxford University.

The pair bond, and Felix invites Oliver to stay at his family’s ancestral home, Saltburn, over the summer.

Anyone who's watched the film will know that Keoghan utterly stole the show with his uncanny and disturbing performance as Oliver. Queer and straight folks alike have not stopped talking about the  infamous bathtub scene  or  the graveyard moment .

So, it came as a bit of a surprise to fans when Elordi revealed that another A-list actor could have played Oliver instead: Wonka star Timothée Chalamet.

While chatting about what attracted them to their Saltburn roles with  British Vogue , Elordi and Keoghan admitted they had been fans of Fennell for a while.

Elordi, who had already been cast as Felix, said that he was there when the director was kicking around ideas for who to play Oliver.

“Then, she said she wanted Timothée Chalamet for it, and I said, ‘Have you thought about Barry Keoghan?’” Elordi quipped, prompting a fit of laughter from Keoghan.

However, some fans were not laughing after Elordi’s passing comment.

Several folks shared that they were firmly in Team Keoghan. They feel that Barry Keoghan was “perfect” for the Saltburn role and that Timothée Chalamet would have ruined the vibe.

Others simply wondered what the film could have been like if Chalamet had been cast as the lead in Saltburn., while some users felt that some of the film's more risqué scenes would've felt even more "shocking" with the Dune star.

Perhaps there's an alternate universe in which Timothée Chalamet did play Oliver in Saltburn, but nevertheless, Barry Keoghan couldn't have embodied the role more perfectly, so we can't imagine anyone else!