Keoghan and Brophy put the fizz in “Lemonade”

Teenage Dublin actor Lewis Brophy used to be talked about as “the new Barry Keoghan” – now he’s starring in a movie with him.

Remarkably, the pair – who star together in “Lemonade” – grew up within a few streets of each other.

Now Brophy is hoping he can be as big a cinema sensation as his fellow Dubliner Keoghan, who shot to fame in the movie Saltburn.

Says Brophy: “When I started off, I remember thinking, ‘You know what? I don’t know how I’m gonna do this. I don’t know how far I’m gonna go.’ But then I see Barry, and I said ‘If he could do it, I could do it.’ And then it turns out a couple of years later, we’re both starting a film together!” 

In the film shot in Dublin, Keoghan, 33, plays Josh, a social worker who takes troubled teenager Danny (Brophy) under his wing.

It is the sort of role that Keoghan himself might have taken a decade ago. Brophy plays Danny, an 18-year-old who is struggling immensely to integrate into society after leaving the foster care system and who makes a mistake that could ruin his future. 

The movie cost €2.5 million to mark and received structural funding of €1,050,000 directly from the Irish national screen agency. 

Director Kim Bartley said she first approached Keoghan to be an executive producer for the film, but found out to her surprise that he was interested in not only producing, but playing Josh as well.

“There’s a lot of parallels in the story with his own life, and I think that’s probably why it it resonated with him. But it’s also a very different role for him. It’s a very mature, gentle kind of part. Very different to the kind of parts that he tends to do. I think it was interesting, challenging and very emotional and personal for him as well,” Bartley said.

For Irishwoman Bartley, “Lemonade” is her first scripted film, having spent her career in documentaries. Working with Brophy, Keoghan and the rest of the film’s cast was something she imagined would be a major challenge, but wasn’t as detached from her documentary work as she anticipated.

“I thought it was some kind of magical thing I didn’t know how to do,” she said. “I’ve always worked on long form documentaries that you shoot over years, observational, getting to know people and spending time with them, and in fact [working with actors] is a similar dynamic. It’s really about relationship building, and I really enjoyed it.”

• “Lemonade” is released in Ireland early next year and was previewed at the Toronto International Film Festival.