Bill Nighy on how ‘Living’ was a ‘marvelous development’ and ‘completely unexpected’ [Complete Interview Transcript]
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Best Actor Oscar nominee Bill Nighy (“Living”) recently chatted with Gold Derby’s Rob Licuria on how his involvement in the Lionsgate film was a “marvelous development” and “completely unexpected.” “Living” is an adaptation of “Ikiru,” the Japanese drama film from 1952. Oscar-nominated screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro wanted to “reimagine the Kurosawa movie” with an English twist, and Nighy explains in detail how he was blown away by the “completely brilliant” script.
After working in the industry for decades, this marks Nighy’s first career Oscar nomination. He was also recognized at the BAFTAs, Critics Choice, Golden Globe and SAG Awards for his role as Rodney Williams, a bureaucrat who receives a terminal cancer diagnosis. “I don’t read anything about myself, and I don’t get out much, and I don’t watch the movies,” the actor tells us. “But I know that I am associated with a kind of Englishness. You know, people say that stuff to me.”
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Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.
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Rob Licuria: I’m Robert Licuria, senior editor at Gold Derby. Here with Bill Nighy, star of “Living.” Bill, um, the screenplay for Living was adapted by acclaimed novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro. I mean, he is so good at writing nuanced seductive, perceptive stories, about longing and passion under the surface. So, what were your thoughts when, you started actually, you know, being part of this film, and speaking the words written by someone like him?
Bill Nighy: Well, I mean, you know, I’ve been very, very fortunate in my life, and and beyond lucky. But this, this was a marvelous development. And completely unexpected. I didn’t know Kazuo Ishiguro at all. I went to dinner with the, the producer, Stephen Woolley, and he was there. And I think the dinner party was what triggered his idea. He’d long harbored the desire to, reimagine the Kurosawa movie and he wanted to marry it with a kind of Englishness… What’s called Englishness, but there, I’m sure there are characters like that all over the world.
And then somehow or other, he put that all together with me. And I don’t quite understand how- what that- why, or what that connection was.
But, he didn’t want to write the script. He was just making the suggestion. And then Stephen Woolley re- persuaded him. He said, “Well then why don’t you write one, and if it’s lousy we’ll get somebody else.” Which was a, a quite a cute way of getting him to do it.
So then he did it, and of course it wasn’t anything near lousy. It was completely brilliant. So, I was very honored by it. You know, I felt very, very fortunate.
RL: Yeah, I can imagine. Having someone like that write a screenplay for you. A character just for you. What, what do you think it was about that encounter with him? What… you know, we all know you in the public eye. What, what do you think it was about you that made him think that you’d be good at, or good for this, uh, kind of remaking from the English perspective, of, you know, the acclaimed Japanese film?
BN: I don’t know. Honestly. I wish… I, I… And I, I have never asked him. And I think he presumes that I do know. I think he thinks I know, or something. He just sort of says it as if, “Oh, well, of course you’d understand.” Which I don’t. I mean, I know he saw me in another film called Their Finest, which was also produced by Stephen Woolley. And I know that… that’s of the same period, but it’s not the same kind of character.
I don’t read anything about myself, and I don’t get out much, and I don’t watch the movies. But I know that I am associated with a kind of Englishness. You know, people say that stuff to me. Like, I know I’ve been described as the quintessential Englishman. Where that comes from, I have no idea. You know what I mean? I’m not that guy. I’m not… It can only be from roles that I’ve played. So, it… Maybe that’s part of the reason, I don’t know.
RL: I know. I mean, many of us know you, obviously, from Love Actually, and then your career, you’ve been working for decades. In fact, I think back to your time on Love Actually, and how you won a BAFTA for that. You weren’t nominated at the Oscars. I’m still getting over that. I just feel like that is the most ridiculous snob ever. (laughs) But how do you feel about people still talking about a film that came out 20 years ago? Many people believe it’s, the quintessential Christmas classic. And you have a huge part to play in that, don’t you?
BN: Well, thank you. Yeah. No, I feel good about it. I feel nothing but good, and grateful, and happy to be associated with the film. It changed my life. It changed the way I went to work. It meant I never had to audition again, which ask… any actor on the planet, you know, for their number one wish. “Please let me know I don’t have to audition anymore.”
And it, it, it did me an enormous amount of good, you know, professionally. And also, it’s a beautiful… whole thing. I mean, Richard Curtis is a believer. You know, he’s not making, romantic, or, you know, films to manipulate money out of people. Because he believes in this, in love. And he believes, in human beings. And he believes that we can be tender, and compassionate, and courageous, and care for one another.
You know, there’s plenty of other films about, you know, heroin and suicide, for those, um… You know, those boys in dark clothes.
RL: Yeah, absolutely. Let’s talk about Oliver Hermanus’s beautiful film. I just found it so, beautiful to look at, listen to. Kind of, it felt very immersive as it opens. A film where a man is being faced by his imminent death and then kind of wakes up with not a lot of time to go, should feel like a cautionary tale or tragedy, but it’s not. It’s not that at all. Why do you think the film is not, as dower, as perhaps maybe the subject matter might lead you to believe?
BN: Well, I don’t really understand. I do know that tragedy, for instance, is supposed… The reason that people wrote tragedies… The reason that people like them, for instance, in the theater, is because they are finally uplifting. I mean, partly it’s because the terrible things are not happening to you. They’re happening to somebody else.
But it’s more than that, I think. I mean, … If you’re talking about great work, like King Lear… People go to see King Lear to be uplifted, not to be depressed about… It’s one of the saddest stories ever told. But the effect at the end, when… You know, that… Is, to be… Is one, is a hopeful one. Is, an uplifting one.
And similarly with this. I mean, you know, I know I’m in a hit, because it’s been out in England for a while now, and I- my phone has been on fire with messages from people I haven’t heard from for 25 years. You know, somebody phoning up and say, “I can’t get into the cinema. This…” You know, my heart goes boom.
And this is a film, as you say, about a guy who gets a disastrous… You know, nobody’s carrying a gun. Nobody takes their top off. I offered to take my f- top off, but they told me to put it back on. But you know, they all say the same thing, which is that they feel galvanized by it, they’re inspired by it. They come out to the cinema, and they want to get things done. They want to do that thing they were putting off forever. They want to… You know. So, who knows whether… That will probably last into the middle of the week. Who knows. But it’s good for two or three days. And who… Some things may get done.
But it’s not… Uh, as you say, it’s an uplifting… And it’s part, it’s the cleverness of the mechanism. It’s beautifully constructed, in order to deliver that. You know?
RL: That’s right. I mean, it’s set such a long time ago. But when you have, Mr. Williams, in that day-to-day, in terminal monotony, surrounded by piles of paper, where his colleague, Miss Harris… Aimee Lou Wood, who plays her. Warns him that without all that paper, people suspect that you have nothing, um, important to do. I saw a lot of that in myself, and I think a lot of people do.
‘Cause that’s so important, to make sure that, you know, you’re, you’ve got this façade of being a hard worker, and, and diligent, and so forth. But who cares about that? That’s what this film I think is trying to tell me, and I, I don’t know if you feel the same way?
BN: Yeah, no, it’s absolutely correct. Yeah. I mean, I think it’s… People really do identify with it. And in, on, in more ways than one. And including myself. You know, I mean, I don’t have a job where I have to go to the same place every day, but I do have a… I have a job. I have many jobs. You know, and I have to be conscientious, and I have to turn up, and I have to… You know. I’ve been doing it for a very long time. You know, so…
In terms of other areas of my life. I procrastinate, you know, like anyone. I’m as good as anyone. Don’t worry, I can put off anything you’ve got. I will die, and there will be a long list of things I never quite got around to. You know what I mean? Everything from that light fixture to, you know, the novel. You know, there will be a lot of stuff.
RL: It’s so refreshing to hear people tell you that, isn’t it, in day-to-day life. Because I feel like, “Am I the only one that has a super long list of shit that I have to do?” And I just can’t quite get there, ’cause there’s always something else that I’d rather be doing. But yes, I agree. And that’s… A lot of that is this film. I kind of really related to him. And I shouldn’t kind of had to of. Because he’s from a long time ago, and he’s English, and… But I think the universality of what Kazuo and Oliver are trying to achieve, he really comes through in the film. And that’s what I found to be most relevant. Do you agree?
BN: Yeah I do, absolutely agree. And I, and I have to say, you know, how lucky can you get? Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro. Helen Scott, the designer. Sandy Powell, the designer. You know, Jamie Ramsay, the genius cinematographer. You know, Stephen Woolley, one of the great English film producers of all time. You know, and what an outfit. You know, what a team, to deliver this particular suggestion. It’s great, and I’m very, very happy about it.
RL: Absolutely, and I highly recommend, Emily Lou Venis, Farucius, Scott. It’s absolutely divine. So beautiful.
BN: So, this is the super obvious question… ‘Cause you’re currently doing media, right? So, I can imagine everyone wants to ask you now, how did you, how would you… What would you do in your last days? I don’t really want to go there. I’d rather be thinking more about… You’re playing someone facing their final moments, or months, of his life. That leads you to look within and have some reflection on your own life. And so, how much personal introspection does an actor have to do, generally speaking, when he has to play someone who is facing the last moments of his life?
In my case, no more than I would normally be involved with. I mean, I don’t think that it actually… Let me think. I’m trying to be honest. I mean, not… Sorry. Um, not that I’m ever not trying to be honest, but I’m trying to be accurate.
I don’t think… You know. I don’t think my performance in the film is not, does not rely upon, a personal, um, you know, whatever I think about dying. It doesn’t, it’s not required. It’s like personal experience is very overrated in terms of acting. You know, it’s like… You don’t have to, you know, you don’t have to be bereaved. You’re not acting… Most of most of what… Anyway, I’ll speak personally. My performance is based on observing other people.
It’s like if you… You know, if you don’t have to be bereaved to act bereaved. You don’t have to be… you’ve observed people who are bereaved. Or not. Whatever. You, well, you just have to use your imagination. It’s like you can’t you can’t… Uh, you know, if you have to be inebriated or intoxicated, you can’t report back from a personal stage of inebriation, so you have to rely on your observations of other people. And in, similarly with this, I don’t have to know… I don’t have to go inward. I mean, I suppose I do go inward, but I’m not really self-aware. So, I don’t really… You know, it’s not fancy, or anything. I just try and imagine what that guy might… And what’s good about this part, is that he’s… He doesn’t allow himself to do- to express much anyway. Or not in any expansive way, because those were the times when you weren’t allowed to do that. And he was in the traditional repression, suppression. So, that’s kind of fun. That’s kind of fun to act. You know?
RL: Yeah. I hear what you’re saying. But you don’t have to-
BN: You have to express, you have to express quite a lot with very little, and that gets to be kind of… It’s delicious, sort of exciting.
RL: Well, yeah. That leads me to this. Like, I had to admit, one of my favorite performances of yours, and I don’t know (laughs) how you’re gonna think of this, is as Viktor, in Underworld. Because it’s so arch, and so over the top and beau-… It’s just so beautiful to watch.
BN: Well, thank you.
RL: This is like the complete reverse, because there’s so much of it he’s repressed, it’s inside. What- what’s actually more difficult? Or are they both as difficult as each other to do? To go all out, or to really leave a lot, um, for just nuance and facial features, and so forth?
BN: It’s hard to say, but I… And there’s not much … I would think… If I had to say… If I had a gun at my head, I’d say Living is harder. Playing a character where you… Because it’s quite… In it, in its way… Well, when I do it. It needn’t be, but the way that I do it, it’s quite physical. Because you have to hold yourself still and tight, and, you know, and you have to squeeze out the voice. And, and you’re, forever uptight. Um, that’s quite exhausting. I remember John Warman, “I’m not comparing myself to Lee Marvin, and I’m not comparing myself to…” You know. But I remember him saying to me once, when I was a young actor… And I auditioned for John Warman a couple of times, and I never got the job. And I don’t hold it against him, ’cause he was a very nice person. And, uh, he, he, he told me that on Point Blank… Do you know the Lee Marvin movie?
He said that Lee Marvin would just… He’d do a shot with Lee Marvin, where he’d just have to be standing somewhere looking… Looking round a corner, or something. And then he would shoot him for a couple of minutes. And then when he finished, Lee Marvin would be completely exhausted, and would have to sit down or something. You know. Because he’d put so much… The suggestion was he put so much into that, that action, that, um, it- he was sort of drained by it. So, I always remembered.
Anyway. There’s an element of that. I’m not comparing myself to Lee Marvin, but… Obviously. But there’s an element of that in having to act this kind of character, where you have to be so contained all of the time. And super self-conscious about every little movement of your face no matter what. It’s quite-
RL: That’s right. Yeah. That fragility and vulnerability that bubbles underneath him, I would imagine would be difficult to calibrate from scene to scene. Does that mean that you have to… You just have to by necessity have the, that kind of relationship with the director. So Oliver is helping you calibrate, and turn it up and turn it down? Is that how it works?
BN: Yeah. Yeah, he really did help. And he was very good. And he was very good on the voice. ‘Cause I had one line, which was in fact the first line that I spoke, uh, in the whole movie. And that was the key to the voice. You know, that was the… And he would sa-… And every time we started a new scene, or even a new take, he would say, “Do you want to do that… Do you want to do the, the key, the trigger line?” You know, “You want to…” Just to key it in, you know, for the voice. Because sometimes the voice would wan-, would wander a little bit.
So, and it, and it worked. And he was very good. That’s what directors are good at, hopefully, is, um… ‘Cause they have the whole picture in their head, and they… You know, but… And is, is calibrating it in the way you suggest.
RL: Absolutely. Bill, thank you so much for your time. I look forward to seeing you on, hopefully on the Oscars red carpet. I have everything crossed.
BN: Oh. Well, thank you, thank you, thank you.
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