Bill Nighy Boards Kaley Cuoco Thriller ‘Role Play’ From Studiocanal, Picture Company & Prime Video

Anthony D'Alessandro
·3 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Two-time BAFTA winner Bill Nighy is joining the Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo high concept thriller Role Play from Studiocanal, Picture Company and Amazon Prime Video.

Nighy steps in for Billy Bob Thornton who had to depart the project due to a scheduling conflict, we hear.

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The Thomas Vincent directed pic revolves around a married couple, played by Cuoco and Oyelowo, whose life turns upside down when secrets come out about each other’s pasts. The role that Nighy is taking over for was under wraps, described as a mysterious stranger who encounters the couple. The movie is shooting in Berlin currently at Studio Babelsberg.

Cuoco received her second Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination yesterday for HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant. 

Nighy received a BAFTA Supporting Actor win for his turn in 2003’s Love Actually as well as a BAFTA TV award for Best Actor for State of Play that year.

His five-decade career spans both the stage and screen. He also received a Golden Globe win for Best Actor in a Miniseries for Gideon’s Daughter. 

Nighy’s upcoming movie, Living, adapted from the 1952 Japanese classic Iriku by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January to critical acclaim. Directed by Oliver Hermanus, Nighy stars in the lead role of Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant who has become a cog in the bureaucracy of rebuilding post-WWII England. When Mr. Williams learns he has a terminal illness, he coincidently strikes up a friendship with another co-worker, Margaret (Aimee Lou Wood). Inspired by her joyous outlook on life and ambition, Williams decides he can make one last change before he slips away from the world.

He is also set to star in The Beautiful Game; a Netflix film directed by Thea Sharrock which centers around a group of English homeless footballers, who travel from London to Rome for the Homeless World Cup.

Nighy recently appeared in the role of Newton in the Showtime limited series The Man Who Fell to Earth opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor and Naomie Harris.

His feature credits include the Johnny Depp redemptive thriller Minamata, Emma opposite Anya Taylor-Joy, Pokemon Detective Pikachu, Hope Gap opposite Annette Benning, Their Finest, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Notes on a Scandal, The Constant Gardener, among several others.

Nighy’s work on stage counts David Hare’s Pravda (1985), Skylight (1985) and A Map of the World (1983). He received an Olivier Award nomination in 2001 for Best Actor for his performance in Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange.

Role Play is written by Seth Owen. Andrew Baldwin also worked on the screenplay. Brillstein Grey’s George Heller, who conceived the idea, is executive producing the film.

Studiocanal is fully financing the Picture Company production. We recently reported that Role Play landed a major Amazon Prime Video deal with the streamer releasing the pic in the US and several international territories.

The Picture Company partners Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona are producing through their long term deal at Studiocanal. Cuoco is producing through her Yes Norman Productions.

Nighy is repped by Independent Talent Group, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.

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