What a difference just four years makes. The last time I sat down with Barry Keoghan, he was 22, and still best known for his role as cat-killing Wayne on Love/Hate. But even then, it was clear that the Dublin actor was destined for great things. His incredible performances exude emotional intelligence, raw vulnerability, and a uniquely wired energy that makes him enormously compelling to watch onscreen. And guess what? Hollywood agrees.

Keoghan has starred opposite Rachel Griffith in Mammal, held his own alongside Brendan Gleeson and Michael Fassbender in Trespass Against Us, stole some of the focus from Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman in The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, and appeared in the epic historical drama Dunkirk, directed by Christopher Nolan. His filmography is rapidly growing, his choices seemingly impeccable – and so it only makes sense that he’s starring in not one, but two celebrated films this month.

American Animals is Bart Layton’s genre-defying crime drama, based on the true story of four college students who stole rare books from Transylvania University in Kentucky. An exploration of memory, entitlement and Hollywood’s glorification of crime, American Animals is wickedly clever and dizzyingly entertaining – and all the more affecting because it’s true.