If I’m onstage I like to do contemporary work, largely because of the trousers, because of the clothes. I like a decent, what we used to call a lounge suit. Then I can start to motor.
BILL NIGHYI wanted to be a journalist, I thought it was glamorous and that I’d meet beautiful women in the rain.
More Bill Nighy Quotes
-
-
I learned far too late in life that a long list of letters after someone’s name is no guarantee of compassion, kindness, humour, all the far more relevant stuff.
BILL NIGHY -
I got briefly mistaken for someone who might be good in bed, which was very, very good.
BILL NIGHY -
Emma Watson is adorable in the extreme. She is such a lovely person.
BILL NIGHY -
More people saw me in ‘Love Actually’ than had seen me in everything else I had ever done up to that point.
BILL NIGHY -
The phenomenon of vampires has always appealed to me. Everyone kind of likes a vampire story because it almost could be true.
BILL NIGHY -
I know really, really famous people who are terrified every time they walk on to a stage.
BILL NIGHY -
Somebody asked me recently, ‘Have you done a lot of plays?’ I thought hang on. .
BILL NIGHY -
I’m probably the only person who actually remembers pirate radio.
BILL NIGHY -
With stage, you feel completely like you’re just in a bubble. I love not being able to see anything. I love coming out and I can’t see anything because the lights are so bright and it’s pitch black. That’s ideal for me, that’s when I have the best time.
BILL NIGHY -
If you ever see me in a social setting wearing any sort of sportswear, then you know I’m in crisis.
BILL NIGHY -
I generally do things I’m proud to be in and generally I’m in things people like.
BILL NIGHY -
I used to do nothing but plays. I’ve been very fortunate that on several occasions I’ve had jobs where I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world whatever you had to offer – however much money you’ve got
BILL NIGHY -
They’re at their most enchanting ’cause they just want to put it off, so they do a cabaret for you. You sit there thinking, “Please don’t let this end.”
BILL NIGHY -
I don’t even own a car.
BILL NIGHY -
I have no memory, any at all, of actually performing the play, no recall in terms of the lines. I can’t tell you any line from any play I’ve ever done.
BILL NIGHY -
I admire David Hare as much as I admire certainly any writer ever. What I like about his writing is it is very conscientiously.
BILL NIGHY -
One of the things that is assumed about actors is that they are extrovert, which is almost never the case, in my experience.
BILL NIGHY -
I used to joke that one of the reasons there was a lack of classical work on my CV was because I couldn’t operate in those kinds of trousers. Which is a joke, but it’s actually also true – if I want to appear in public I want to look my best.
BILL NIGHY -
I did pick up a guitar once, but the strings hurt my fingers so I put it down again.
BILL NIGHY -
I don’t dislike the process of animation… I find it daunting, but only as much as I find everything daunting.
BILL NIGHY -
Often in America people would assume that [as an English actor] you’ve had some sort of deep, classical training, or that you’re a Shakespeare enthusiast. I have zero interest in me performing Shakespeare.
BILL NIGHY -
All actors who have been around for a long time, which I have, and have been skint for long periods, which I have, find it difficult to turn down jobs. If I turn anything down my stomach turns over. I feel sick. It feels like gambling.
BILL NIGHY -
There are only three men in the world who are licensed to wear shorts: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise.
BILL NIGHY -
I would like to change everything, but obviously not everything. I’ve been incredibly fortunate. I guess everybody would do this, but I’d go back to my younger self and say, “Lighten up. Take it easy. Relax. Don’t be so anxious about everything.
BILL NIGHY -
I’m crazy about James Brown. I’m crazy about soul music. And then the blues. Rhythm and blues.
BILL NIGHY -
A way of describing performances that I admire is that there is an absence of careerism. It’s a clumsy way of describing it but it sort of does it for me.
BILL NIGHY