Glenn Keogh is an Irish actor who plays an Arctic foreman in Transformers: Age Of Extinction, but that's by no means all that the Dublin native has been up to. We caught up with the man from Blackrock this week to talk about Transformers and some of the other work he's involved in.
College Times: So what was it like being involved in a big film for the first time? I know you've done a lot of TV work so is there much of a difference between the two?
Glenn Keogh: It was brilliant. It's a different world because of the budget. They take care of you obviously, but there's so much secrecy around it. I had to sign a non-disclosure before I even got the sides (part of the script) to go in and audition, even my agent couldn't get them, so I couldn't work with anybody on them. So then I heard I was in the running for it, and then I heard I was short-listed for it, then I heard that I got it, and my agent still hadn't got the contract, so I knew straight off the bat that this was different. Then I was flown out to Chicago and we shot it out there, and the sheer size of the production was just incredible. And then even being at the première I'd say there was about a thousand people at it and you just get a sense of the enormity of it. So ye, obviously it's something I'd like to do all every day, but at the end of the day it is just acting and it's just another gig.
CT: I heard you saying that you shot it in Chicago, so obviously you didn't shoot it on location in the Arctic.
Keogh: Haha no, sorry to bust the illusion but a lot of it was done with CGI. We actually filmed it in a quarry in Chicago. And they've obviously filmed a lot of the Transformers movies in Chicago because they have an arrangement with the Lord Mayor that they get the use of the city... So ye it was in a quarry, and it was wasn't freezing!
CT: Haha good to hear. I know there's only a couple of other people in your scene, but did you have much interaction with any of the other cast members?
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Keogh: At the première I did, that was the first time meeting them, it's not as if we did a table read or anything like that... So ye last week in New York I got to spend time with them and they were all great, Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci and Titus Welliver who I actually worked with on Sons of Anarchy, he actually killed me in that, blew my head off point blank so I joked with him about that. ... But ye I met Speilberg as well and he's an absolute gent. I asked Jack (Reynor) to introduce me to him and he was very complimentary and just a really nice guy.
CT: So with Jack's character also being Irish, is there any reason why you were also cast as an Irish man?
Keogh: Honestly I don't know. Bay and Speilberg were involved in the casting and the specifically asked for Irish, American or Scottish actors, maybe to add a bit of international flavour. Jack had already been cast at this point so I don't know whether that helped me land the role either.... But sure look we're taking over the world so we're not complaining!
CT: Haha so I know world domination is probably a little bit away just yet, but have you any other work lined up at the moment or that you've just done?
Keogh: Ye I've just done an episode of the Ray Donovan show with Liev Schreiber and that starts in July in the US, so my episode won't be on 'til around September. I was an Irish immigration officer in that and it was pretty cool because I got to work with Eddie Marsan, a British actor who's worked in a ton movies, and he's a top bloke so I had good craic working with him. Then I have a recurring role on Days Of Our Lives, a daytime soap, I play a monk in a monastery in that... So that's been good fun. And I'm also in the pilot of a show called Scorpion, which has been picked up by CBS, and it's about genius kids who get taken from their families by the FBI to make a team that will take down terrorists around the world. My son gets taken away from me, I'm an Irish farmer, and he ends up being the lead character of the show so I'm hoping that'll lead to more work for me... That'll be airing in September in the US, and there's a lot of money being pumped into it. The producer is Justin Lin who was involved in most of the Fast and Furious movies.... And then late last year I shot my own show with a couple of Irish and American producers. It's kind of a dark comedy that plays on an American's perception of an Irish person, and my character gets up to all sorts of nonsense living in America. So we're just pitching that to all of the different networks trying to get that picked up as a show, so hopefully that'll be picked up.
CT: So it sounds like you've been very busy recently then?
Keogh: Ye I have I suppose, but as I said to someone recently it's like waiting for a bus in Dublin; you'll be waiting ages for one and then suddenly four come along, so it nearly becomes a bit of an inconvenience as you struggle to work out where you're going to fit some of them in. But in an ideal world I'd actually come back here to work, because I've never actually worked in Ireland. I started working in Australia after going to acting college there before I won a Green Card and started in America.
CT: Oh right ok. So what sort of college experience do you have?
Keogh: Good question, because I actually went to college for 6 years, I actually have a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) qualification believe it or not! I went to Griffith College after going to Dun Laoghaire for two years. I did it during nights and weekends while also working as an accountant out of a small firm in Dun Laoghaire. So I qualified at 24 and worked for 4 years before moving to Australia where I took up acting as a hobby after I quit the football when I tore my ligaments for the third or fourth time. From there I then went to college for another four years to study acting, and it was only when I went to the US that I decided I was really going to give it a go. But I've still kept in touch with the tech world, doing some consultancy work in the US for a mate of mine back home... I was actually asked back in Australia what advice I would give to any young actor and it would be that, to get some other sort of qualification to pay the bills while you're looking for the gigs, because if it becomes about the money to pay the rent then that's when desperation comes into it.
CT: Excellent. So just last question; where is your favourite place to go out in Ireland?
Keogh: Ehhhh, I'd have to say Temple Bar, although I moved away 14 years ago so I don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to Dublin anymore. So ye just Temple Bar for a pub crawl, or even the west of Ireland, I love there and I love going to Galway for a weekend whenever I can.
