Happy Sad Confused - Bill Nighy

Episode Date: April 12, 2017

For most actors, a life of quiet consistent work is practically a dream come true. And that’s the life Bill Nighy led for most of his career, steady work on the stage, on television and film, and even on radio, but never “that part”—the one that would launch him. All of that changed in 2003, when, by now in his 50s, he stole “Love Actually” out from under the likes of Hugh Grant and Liam Neeson with a memorable turn as a rock n’ roll legend Billy Mack.  Since then, he’s added class and wit to a variety of high profile projects (not to mention returning to the stage and television whenever he can). Joining Josh on the podcast this week, Nighy reveals himself to be a self-deprecating delight, soft spoken but hysterical, and quite insightful. In this conversation, Nighy talks about his latest role as a hammy actor during WWII in “Their Finest”, why he loves working in sci-fi, and why he’s astonished that after all this time, it’s now that filmmakers are asking him to take off his clothes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the show, guys. I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to my little old podcast. Joining me, as always on the intro is Sammy. Hey, Sammy. Hi. Very excited to introduce this episode. We taped this a couple weeks back. We've been itching to give it to you because as soon as he left the... The podcast facility, we all were like, oh, my God, Bill Nye was amazing. You know Bill Nye, of course. I love him. Not to be confused with a science guy. Let's get that out of the way. Which happens a lot, I feel.

It does happen a lot. But no, Bill Nye, of course, you know, he kind of came to prominence. As I said in the intro, bizarrely a little bit later in life in his early 50s, thanks to his role in love actually as kind of that rock and roll star. Also that same year, he was an underworld of all things. And he relishes, he talks a lot about. in this conversation, relishing being in a lot of sci-fi films and fantasy films. He's been in the Pirates films. I was going to say he did Pirates. He guest started on Doctor Who. He's just been around and he's not snobbish about the genre of film. And that's part of why I fell in love with Bill Nye, who frankly is one of those.

Like, I booked for the podcast just being a fan and not really having much of history with him. But he just charmed my pants off. Not literally. Don't come down. Just to be weird. Call the press. Well, no, he was, he's delightful. He's very, he's very self. deprecating, very witty, and just a very insightful, smart guy and one of our greatest actors. And he's in this really good new movie that's out in theaters right now called Their Finest. It stars our good old buddy Sam Claflin.

We love Sam. Gemma Arderton's in it. And it takes place in World War II kind of making of a film. It's like a behind-the-scenes production of making these kind of like propaganda films in World War II to kind of boost morale and confidence back in those dark days. And it's filled with like a lot of a heart and humor and his performance since it premiered in the Toronto Film Festival has been garnering a lot of acclaim and well-deserved. It's a really, honestly, I love the movie. I actually want to see it again. And he's just stellar in it. So that's this week's show.

Other things to mention, Sammy and I, we just had some fun with The Fate of the Fury. You guys should check out on some of our fun stuff we did there. Yeah. Did you have fun at the premiere? I did. Well, you know who the first person we saw was. So Sammy and I worked the red carpet for this, the eighth Fast and the Furious movie at Radio City Music Hall here in New York. And out of the screams and the lights walked this figure towards us.

It was Tyrese. No, it was, we love Tyrese. We love Tyrese, but it was DJ. It was Dwayne the Rock Jans. With his sunglasses and his beautiful, shiny head. just bringing joy with him. He really does exude joy. It was so great to see him and didn't do many interviews, we should say, but he did

stop for us, little us. He loves us. And had a delightful conversation with him, which you can watch, I believe, on MTV's Facebook page that's there, along with some other stuff, I think we're cutting from that. Yeah, some fun Jason Statham stuff. Statham is so good in the movie. Another beautiful bald head from that movie. A lot of beautiful bald heads in this franchise.

A lot of beautiful bald men. Speaking of which, also, we did a, I did a 20-minute conversation with Vin Diesel, of course, you can't have the Fast and Furious without Vin Diesel. We did a Facebook live with him just the other day. You can catch that entire conversation on MTV's Facebook page. And well worth checking out. Just honestly, he doesn't sit down for that many big conversations. And we covered a lot, including the future of the fast franchise, triple X, why his Riddick poster popped up in 50 shades of gray. I love that. And a lot more. It was a lot of fun talking to Vin as well. Fasten the Furious. Fate of the Furious opens this Friday. I know you guys will check that out. And then after this podcast taping in just a little, a few hours, we're going to be heading to Star Wars celebration. That's right. In Orlando, Florida. Oh, yeah. So check back in next week. The heart of America. I will give you guys, we will both give you guys a report on what it's like to cover a full on, basically Comic Con for Star Wars. You're going to be such. I'm very excited. You're going to, oh my, you're going to be out of control. I'm going to, yeah. This is going to, I'll let you all know.

How much I embarrass myself? No, you're going to be embarrassing yourself because I'm in the majority there. These are my people. No, I, no. I'm just saying you're going to have to keep it together, okay? No. I know all your favorites will be there. All my keeps are going to be there.

Yeah, hopefully we're going to be talking to. We don't know exactly who we're talking to, but very like we were going to be talking to much of the cast of The Last Jedi. I can barely say it with God God's right. How many times do you think your Jar Jar Jar Impersonation is going to come out? That's hurtful, but also spot-on. But relevant. Well, Sammy and I do need to discuss some ideas for what kind of fun stuff we're going to do. And, yeah, maybe.

Jar Jar's on the table. Jar's always on the table, guys. When you've got a gift like Jar Jar, you don't want to just keep it in your holster for too long. You have to let it go. You have to give it to the world. I don't know if Daisy's experience the Jar Jar Jar yet. Oh, well, she will. The end of our beautiful friendship.

Abrupt ending. Exactly. So stay tuned for that. We'll report back from our fun time. So hopefully at Star Wars celebration. week. But for now, there's a fair amount of geekiness in this conversation, surprisingly so, for such a classy actor like Bill Nye, but we touch on a lot of things. Does he talk about the reunion? Yeah, he does actually, yeah, which hasn't aired in the States yet. They, of course,

love actually, if you've heard, haven't heard, most 90% of the cast got together for Richard Curris, the director, we team them all for Red Nosed Day, this great cause that's going to be running, I believe like May 25th, I want to say on NBC. I'm sure, you know, check your, what's things you'll find it. Check your look. I'm sorry. I'm so. I'm so. I'm So excited. But yeah, yeah, he talks about reteaming for that and how much fun it was and whether that might spark a full-on film, which he says, which he says, well, just a spoil it a little bit. He does say that for the first time came up in the conversations a little bit. Oh, my God.

I wouldn't be shocked. There was so much excitement when this was announced. I was floored. Yeah. So, yeah, I can't gush enough about Bill Nye and you'll hear a little bit of gushing in the conversation to come. And I think you will agree with me. He's, he's worth the gush. He's awesome.

He's worth it. All right, go check out their finest now out in theaters. and enjoy this conversation with Bill Nye and we'll talk to you when we get back from a Jedi athon. See you on the other side. Exactly. May the Force be with you.

Oh, God. What? I have to do that. I'm leaving. There's no official introduction. I feel you are warranted a great introduction because I'm such a fan of your work, sir. But it's a pleasure to, I think it's the first time we've met.

Mr. Bill Nye has joined us in the podcast studio. Hello, good morning. My pleasure. I was just complimenting you. I'll do it for the record just because it's useless if other people don't hear it. True. We need to actually share it with the world. Yeah, get it out there.

Get it out there. Mr. Nye is promoting a wonderful new film called Their Finest, which I first had the pleasure of seeing at the Toronto Film Festival from director. I don't want to butcher her name. You do it for me, if you could. Lona Sheafig. She's a very eminent Danish filmmaker. She made a film you might remember called An Education, which is... Beautiful.

Now remember it as the film that brought you Carrie Milligan, who I remember. It was the first time I met Carrie was at Toronto as well when they did debut that film. So a lot to cover. I want to talk a bit about the film, but also since we have some time, if you'll indulge me to talk a little bit about your esteemed career. As I said, I'm a huge fan. I've seen so much of your work. I've seen you on the stage here. Opposite Carrie, actually.

So I guess first of all, I mean, give me a sense. Much has been made if you read like the narrative, the story of Bill Nod. about like the fact that you know your film career your career like to 99% of the public probably frankly became aware of you about 15 years ago true so I'm just curious sort of like where you were at you were obviously you had a very successful career you were making a great living you had had done a ton of theater and and film and TV were you satisfied with your career prior to love actually that 2003 banner year yeah I think I was I had a very familiar what you might call an English career

which was basically playing leading roles in the theatre and on TV and I was already exceeding any expectations I'd had in the beginning my expectations I think in retrospect they seem to have been what people would probably describe

as extremely low I mean I was just working in the theatre and that was already a result and I thought that my life would be in the theatre so being on television I never expected to be on television I certainly didn't expect to be in a movie. But, yeah, and I had, and I'd done, you know, the things that I might tell my grandchildren, I'd already done some of those things, you know, because I'd worked with great writers like Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, David Hare, you know,

and with great actors and great directors. So things were fine. The only thing I would dispute in your account is that I wasn't making enough money. But I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But, yeah, apart from that, no, it was good. But so it was very, I didn't expect to get into, people didn't so much.

And it was unlikely at that time in my life that I would suddenly play a principal role in a big movie. Right. And I did and it changed everything. I mean, had there been, quote unquote, close calls before then, where you thought, you know, even if you didn't expect it, that, oh, this audition, this part, this film, this project, this actually could launch me into a whole other stratosphere. You would go for those auditions, but you would never, well, I would never expect to get them. And often, even if the director liked your audition, and he would say, I had the conversation several times where they would say, I'm going to really seriously suggest to the producers that we have you. And I took in the end, on a couple of later occasions, I would thank them and say, look, it's good of you to try, but you're never going to pull it off because they can't spell my name, leave alone. You know what I mean?

And I don't mean that just because I wouldn't do it either because you want to protect your investment. So it would then go to somebody more visible. And that was a familiar thing. That's not just for me. That was for anybody, and particularly for English actors in American movies because they needed somebody who was familiar to an American audience. What Love actually did was made me kind of, you know, they could almost put my name to my face and became made me familiar to an American audience. So that changed the way that people could use me. And Love actually, of course, came from the brilliant mind of Richard Curtis.

Yeah. Had you known Richard before then? I'd met him briefly on occasions. He came to the theater and things I was in. But I didn't know him particularly well, no. And I did a read-through. They used to, they have, occasionally they will ask you, writers and directors will ask you to read a script out loud with no expectation of getting the job.

And they are, but of course, you know, and they always say, it's not an audition, but, you know, try telling that to the actors because they all, you know, work real hard and try and get the gig, obviously. But I don't, I really didn't imagine I would get the job because it was a rock star and I thought they'll go and get a rock star. Or they'll go and get a film star. They could have anyone in the world. kind of part where you can almost trade on celebrity, you can cast a celebrity and that

automatically gets you, buys you something. Exactly, yeah. Why would they give up that, why would they, you know, jettison that bit of that advantage and give it to me? But they did. So, you know. Your charisma was too damn strong to deny. Exactly.

It's that old charisma again. But, and did, when you got that part, did you have a sense that it could, again, you'd kind of maybe steal to or prepared for disappointment through career? of knowing that it's just difficult to kind of break through. But like, what was your attitude when you got the part, when the film was done, when you saw it? I mean, at what point did it kind of register, oh, the unlikely is about to happen? Well, I have an above average talent for projecting doom. That's why you're welcome here.

Good. You're my like-minded people. I sensed I was amongst friends, yeah. And I, you know, I'm very good at projecting negatively. I mean, like world class. Oh, yeah, at an Olympic level. Okay, we're going to go to two in a second. Yeah, there is no.

Well, okay, I take you on. There is no possible, there's no version of the future, which, you know, I can, you know, the future is bleak. Oh, the political realm must be great for you right now. Oh, no, this is fantastic. The world is beginning to reflect my worst, you know, my, you're like, I told you guys for decades. Exactly. So, yeah, so I mean, yeah, and now I forgot the question. That's okay.

So I guess the question was about once you get that role in the film, like, do you adjust your mindset? Like, oh, this could actually mean something. Well, my default mindset is, oh, now I have an even bigger opportunity. to humiliate myself. That's my default. And then I have to go to work anyway. And I'm accustomed to that, you know, with this voice in my head saying,

who do you think you are? What persuaded you to imagine you could play this part anyway? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's like having a, you know, a radio tuned in one part of your head. And you get, you get it, you go, hopefully you grow accustomed to working whilst it's telling you bad news about yourself.

And I became, you know, and then you realize that the audience don't know what's going on in your head, which might not sound like anything to anyone else, but that was a bit of a revelation for me. And it's the only thing that made it possible for me to proceed. So I would, you know, keep a straight face and keep working. In a weird way, was Underworld, which also, I think, came in that same year as big or similarly big for you in that year?

Yeah, I mean, you know, I did, I had about three or four jobs that year. And I was aware that if I was kind of half decent in any of them and if they weren't to any degree popular, that it might, you know, I'm not stupid. You know, I thought, you know, and then the last one was Love Actually. And it was Underworld, there was a TV series called State of Play, which was extremely popular in England. And I was aware that it was very high-class stuff. And then there was underworld, and then there was, you know, which was genre, which I am drawn to, you know, and I love vampires. I'm crazy about vampires. And, you know, and I was aware that, you know, I was operating on a couple of levels, you know, and I was, I was, I was, I was, what's that word?

I was, predisposed. No, I was, I was presenting. a moving target. Gotcha. So it was all kind of, you know, and I thought if any of those things came off, then it could shift. This is Happy SAC Confused.

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Join us. Be a part of something extraordinary. in Washington, D.C. Register today at theovernight.org or call 888 The Overnight. That's The Overnight.org or 888-843-6-837. Part of what I love about your career is like there doesn't seem to be like a pompousness about like highbrow versus lowbrow, quote-unquote, in film or TV or, I mean, first in terms of medium. You've worked in literally every medium from radio TV, film, all. throughout your career and you continue to. It's not like you've given up TV or whatever in recent years. And then that extends also to genre, which, you know, as a genre fan,

myself, you know, it always lends a bit of credibility in class when you show up on screen in a film that could sometimes, you know, not aspire to greatness. I mean, is that something, is that a function of sort of where the work is, where you're, where you're interest-wise, given the fact that you've showed up in a lot of kind of, quote, quote, genre films in the last decade. Well, when I was young, I was lucky enough to be a founder member of the science fiction theater of Liverpool, which was run by a man that was routinely described as a lunatic genius, which used to drive him crazy. He said, why can't I be a genius like every other genius? And so, why don't I always have to be a lunatic genius? And he was called Ken Campbell.

No one would probably know him, but he was a very, it was a great inspiration to me. And he would, he didn't like the term science fiction. He preferred literature of the imagination. And as he described it, you know, it was an opportunity within that form, broadly speaking, you can deal with huge themes. You can deal with everything. You can, you know, philosophy and what and science, obviously, and all kinds of the things that might concern us, which would be very difficult to get into any other form.

Yes. You know, and yet you can instantly start talking at that level if you're in genre. And I have great respect. And some of my favorite writers, William Gibson, Neil Stevenson, you know, are, I like possible near futures. Yeah. You know, that's my, you know, extrapolating from the present, you know, into the near future.

and seeing where the technology takes us. Things like that fascinating. Bill Dick and that kind of thing. Yeah, Bill Dick, sure. And so I've never had a, but I just, you know, the quality of writing, I don't mind what genre it is or what the target audience is or anything of that kind. If it's a kid's movie or a family, if the writing is of a certain quality, then I'm happy. Is there one particular experience in that kind of, again, that quote-unquote genre universe

that really tickled the boy within you that you got a chance to play in that way? Well, Underworld is a pretty, you know, it was a pretty great opportunity to mess around, you know. And I had enormous fun. And Len Wiseman and the guys who made Underworld, they were believers. You know, they didn't make some vampire werewolf movie because that was what was available at the time or something to try and get ahead. Yeah. They made a vampire werewolf movie because they are seriously enthusiastic about such things. And Len is, you know, he's a brilliant man and he can, and they made this brilliant film.

I wanted it off the street, you know, I was, it was in, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I, you know, the, the subway broke down on the way to the audition. I remember, and I kind of worked up my vampire. I was in a suit walking through very hot London streets and trying to find this office. And I walked in and this very nice man with a camcorder said, you know, how tall are you? Have you been working lately?

And I said, sure. He said, do you want to do your vampire thing? I said, yeah, okay. You know, like, what? And I did my vampire thing. And he said, well, that's phenomenal. I said, well, thank you very much. And I got the gig.

And we ended up making three of them, you know. And we had like nine weeks of night shoots in Budapest. This is filmmaking. This is vampire wearer all filmmaking, what you want it to be. Exactly. Apart from, maybe apart from the fact that I had to spend six hours putting latex all over my body in order to appear to be really undead and to have been asleep for 5,000 years.

They flew me for the day from Londontown to Los Angeles and they took me to a warehouse someone on the edge of the city. And this guy with a bucket of, I can't remember it, it's all alginate, that stuff. they make impressions at the dentist with liquid alginate, and he was about to pour it over my head. It's got to be good for your skin probably. Well, exactly, yeah. And he was about to cover the whole of my head and my torso with this liquid alginate.

And he had the bucket in his hand. And he said, do you get like, you know, claustrophobic or anything? And I was like, well, yeah, but it's a little late now. And then he poured it right over you. And they give you straws for your nose. And they said, before they pour the liquid alginate over there, they said, we're going to take two molds of your whole body so that we can do whatever we want to your body.

But we'd like two expressions on your face. I was like, yeah. I had no idea of this world. This was my introduction. And he said, yeah, we'd want a normal face. And then, you know, we're going to take the top of your head off later on in the movie. So we'd need that, oh, my God, the top of my head is coming off expression. Classic.

Well, you weren't in theater school. Yeah, right, exactly. So like you could keep, like you could hold that expression underneath a bucket load of liquid alginate. That's how I wake up every morning with that expression. I'm expecting somebody's chopping off my head. Yeah. If they'd have caught me first thing in the morning, it would have been fine. It sounds like a very elaborate plan to murder you.

by someone that didn't really like you, took you to an abandoned warehouse, and just really wanted to torture you to death. These things do cross your mind. But then by the time I left the warehouse, there were two full-length copies of my body lying on a table just by the exit door, you know. Not creepy at all. Not creepy at all. You're redundant. We don't need you around now. We've got the bodies.

That's the next thing. Yeah, that'll be the next thing. I'll just franchise my, you know, my face or something. And then you even take, like, speaking of kind of these crazy lengths you go to acting. something like pirates where you have to look like a crazy man with a thousand dots over your face were you something that took to that did it take a little getting used to

does anybody get used to that it took a little getting used to the first couple of days maybe even weeks of Pirates of the Caribbean were some of the toughest of my professional career and I'm proudest that I you know those days that I didn't just go to the airport and say please I can't do this shit please let me go home because you know they put you in computer pajamas with white bubbles all over

them they put you in trainers which at my time of life even then was kind of shaming because you know you have to kill myself and they had bubbles on they put me in a skull cap with a bubble on the top and I had 250 dots all over my face like I had a rash and then they give you pictures of the scariest thing on the ocean waves and then somebody says action and it's you know it's it's an averagely tough gig you know to act your way out of the pajamas and people ran out of jokes after about the first couple of weeks so it was you know things settled down but it turned into one of the best jobs I've ever had and the and the geniuses who made the creature, you know, oh my God. When the director saw the, and when the director saw

the creature for the first time, he said, get your acceptance speech ready. And it turned out to be actually absolutely the case. And they got on Oscar for that. And I said to him, and he'd always said to me, you know, whatever you do, whatever gestures you do, whatever facial expressions you do, your performance, whatever happens on the set, it will make the screen, I promise you. And then when I saw the creature, I said, wow, you said that everything would make the screen. And it did. He said, Yeah, but I was lying. I didn't know. Because he had no idea.

It's a miracle. Because no one had ever made a creature quite that advance before. You got in under the Wire and the Potter series. And I assume partially that was thanks to your relationship with David, David Yates, who obviously directed you so well in Girl in the Cafe. Yeah. And it's so remarkable to see how his career has evolved from like these intimate kind of character dramas to.

But I think that's what makes him great in the spectacle as well. Exactly. Were you ever in the mix for Potter before then? Or was it only at the... I think I even... Maybe I auditioned or something. I can't remember my... But I think I probably, you know...

I thought I was going to be the only English actor of a certain age not to be in Harry Potter. And I was happy with that. I'd processed it. You know, I was going to be... Again, ready for a disappointment. Well, there was a certain distinction. Yes.

You know, I was set apart as the only guy who didn't make it into the cut. But... And David Yates, yeah. I mean, David is a wonderful director, a brilliant man. And I worked with him four times. I'd worked with him three times before. in a thing called the young visitors

spelt wrong with an E instead of an O at the end and also in a TV series called State of Play, which was, as I referred to earlier, which and all of very, very different things. I think maybe the young visitors was, I don't know, I'm speculating, but I think that might have been what got, because it was a kind of

fantastical thing. It may have been what got him the Harry Potter gig. This is my theory. I just find it fascinating. I mean, you know him obviously way better than I do, but I've interviewed him a number of times. He's like the most soft-spoken, sweet man that can somehow marshal thousands of people to make the biggest films on the planet now and it somehow works yeah he can be mistaken for a sort of kindly geography master you know but he's and he is a

kindly man and he's very very you know I'm crazy about him but he is also lethal you know and he will always come and he just keeps you at it and he's relentless and in a good to good purpose so uh you know I don't want to you know confuse the audience to make sound like you've only done genre films in your life but but that's what we're concentrating on for the set for the moment that's Fine. Did you... So, I mean, the war is that you said no, though, to Dr. Who? Yeah, that's a myth. That's not true.

Oh, wait. I'm reading facial expressions. No, no, no. No, that's not the case. It's not the case. No, it's not the case. If they had asked you, what would you have said? I don't know because it didn't happen, and therefore I'd have to check it out.

They still could. They're looking for another doctor. It's possible. I'm usually on the list, you know, when there's a new doctor coming and there's a list in the paper with photographs. There's usually my picture. And last time there was me and Judy Dench. That's right. So, yeah, I'm generally, I'm a usual suspect.

And yet two other British staples have alluded to you thus far. I feel like it's inevitable that we need you as like a stern evil officer in a Star Wars film at some point. Yeah, I don't know why that hasn't happened. I mean, I must have been, I don't know. Maybe I lost my phone or I don't know, but that should happen. They're making one a year now. So, I mean, keep the phone close by. They're going to run out of people.

They're going to get to me. It's the story of my career. And I'm not, I'm perfectly happy with that. And, and I feel like you have to at some point torture Daniel Craig or Idris Elbow or somebody is a bond villain, right? I know. What's that about? I know. I don't know how that hasn't happened.

I mean, but yeah, no, I'm hoping. I have big high hopes in that area, too. So we mentioned Love Actually. We can't ignore the fact that as we tape this, this kind of teaser just a drop for Red Nosed Day, this amazing great cause. And watching the teaser, like, brought back a flood of, like, memories and love for that film. There's so much affection for that film. Can you just give me a sense of sort of what it was like to get back together? This is only a 10 minutes short, so it's not a full film, but it does return most of the characters.

It was really great and really nice. And everybody, nobody hesitated because it's for Red Nose Day, which is on May the 25th. And Richard Curtis, who wrote and directed Love actually, also started Red Nose Day in the UK. It's raised millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars. They've saved literally millions of, mostly children. children's lives, you can point to those people to Emma Freud, his wife, and to Richard Curtis, and the people they work with, and you can say those people there, right there, they saved millions of children from dying from extreme poverty in 2017, completely unnecessarily and

preventably, which is obviously breathtakingly admirable. And yeah, everybody's back. He's done it brilliantly. I've only seen, I've read them all, you're going to love everything. They're perfect extrapolations from, you know, where the characters might be 14 years on. And I've seen Liam Neeson's, which is kind of perfect. And I know what Hugh Grant does, which everyone's going to dig it. Because don't miss Hugh's bit. Did he force that poor man to dance again against this wishes? I'm not liberty to say anything, Josh.

He's been talking for 14 years about how much he hated dancing. I know, it was the worst day of his professional life. Well, we'll have to wait and see. What does Richard Curtis have over you, gentlemen? I don't know. He's just, I don't know, but everybody turned up. And it was actually really nice. And we had a big dinner.

You know, it was like a, I mean, it never happens on a movie. Yeah. You get a kind of reunion sort of situation. And it was really cool. And Colin Firth and Andrew Lincoln and Chuitale Egya for and Lucia and Kira Knightley. And everyone is back. And nobody hesitated because, obviously, the cause is such an admirable one. And I had to struggle into some very tight trousers, which was fine.

I can still get into them. And I wore some very sort of industrial jewelry. And I had some shades, which probably cost the, they're probably, you could probably buy a Porsche. You know what I mean? They have gold. There's a lot of gold in my shades. And shoes, which you will be able to bid for, you can wear, you can walk in my shoes. There are the most extraordinary electric blue, very pointed shoes,

which I think are an homage to Johnny Depp because they've got the word libertine written on each soul. So, you know, they could be your shoes. Amazing. May the 25th. Check it out. I can't wait. So does this wet the appetite?

Do you think there's any chance whatsoever for a fall on film? Well, I've never ever discussed it with Richard until this, obviously, because, you know, everyone's very delighted that he's done this. And Universal, I think it is, you know, they've been begging him or at least, you know, urging him ever since the first one came out. And I think he, and obviously, he's been reluctant. So I don't know. This might be the thing that triggers it. I don't know. I mean, but he's certainly done a brilliant job of, you know, suggesting where those characters might have got to by, you know, up to the present day.

I can't let you go, speaking of Richard and your career, without talking a little bit about time, which I know. I had Dono in here who I just adore as well. And such a, I mean, such a touching sweet movie that maybe didn't have the hugest box office, but is one of those that like immediately, even in the few years since, I'm sure you experienced it, really worked and touched people in a profound way. I mean, I think, I mean, it did, I don't know what kind of business it did because I never look,

but it's entered the language. It's a stayer. And I get, I think probably in the last, since it came out, I get more people coming up to me in the street thanking me for about time than probably anything else. It's really touched people, as you say. It was also, it was the biggest grossing movie.

I mean, somebody's going to tell me I'm wrong, but it was a huge success in South Korea. And no one could work out why South Korea was so crazy about it. And then somebody from the South Korea PR department explained that it was because it very closely followed their Buddhist guidelines. Who knew? And also, I think, because they have, as in most countries, they have a very great tradition of that. The father-son relationship is a very kind of important one.

So one last thing I'm curious about on Richard, because he said in recent years, I think I said about time, that was going to be the last film he directed. I know. I mean, have you talked to him about that, whether it's love actually or not. Do you think he's serious about that? I think he probably is. And he said, if I'm going to follow the suggestions that I've made in the film about time, why would I spend three years in my life making a movie? Because three years of my life in pain.

And I said, well, there's no answer to that. Yeah, because he's a very nice man. You don't want him to be in pain. But I'm hoping that there'll be, he'll write something, which is so treasurable, you know, so important to him that he won't want to let anybody else direct it. and I'm hoping that there'll be a part for, you know, a man of my height and weight. Well, they've got that life doll now. They don't need you.

They don't name me. I'm sorry, Bill. I know. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but can he dance? You know what I mean? That's what I want to know. So are you, I mean, you talk, we talk about Richard, you know, like, you know, directing being painful for him and we hear that often for directors.

That's a painful process. Is acting painful for you? Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't, it doesn't come easy. I mean, you know, it should come easy. It's only what, it's only I make a meal of it, you know, it's not because, I mean, it is quite, if you're talking about acting the actual process, well, process, that's a fancy word, but the actual thing of acting. Being on set, like being in the moment, is that pleasurable?

What's pleasurable? What's pleasurable? What's the, break it down for me if you could a little bit. It's very difficult, Josh. I don't know what to say. I mean, there are passages of time of it that are pleasurable. Mostly, I find it alarming and worrying. and I don't sleep much. And it's like, you know, and it doesn't get any better because you think, well, it should get better

because I did it before. And you go through all, you try and find precedence to emboldened yourself. And they work up to a point. But, you know, and there are times, you know, there are times when they're not very frequent, but there are times when you think, I know what I'm doing, this is fine.

Like even I cannot, you know, undermine myself in this situation. And then it's, then it can be bliss. particularly, you know, on stage there'll be some wet Wednesday matinee and there'll be nobody in the audience and suddenly everything flows in a way and everything is explained and everything is simple and easy and you think, oh, I see, this was, there was no need for any of that static. This is how it goes. This is great. You know, and then it never happens again, you know, for six months or something. And you think, well, why can't it be like that all the time? But, you know, I mean, but generally speaking, I think it's a, you know, I I think it's a primary art form. There's radical. I think that it's, you know, there's dignity in it for everybody. You know, I mean, and if you're fortunate as I have been to work with great writing, then it's a, you know, I'm not complaining.

I feel like I've discovered, if nothing else in the course of conversing it with you, that, well, A, that you're a secret neurotic, maybe not so secret, and that you really should be a, like, you're a Woody Allen protagonist that just never happened. That hasn't happened yet. That's another thing. Yeah, what happened to that? Yeah, well, let's just say that he's never said anything that was that. unfamiliar to me. I mean, I get it. I really get it.

There's more happy, sad, confused coming up after this break. So, actually, I feel like I haven't seen you do an American accent that much. You've lapsed into it a few times in this. And clearly, you can do it with facility. Well, I'm building up. I'm building up. And I'm hoping, you know, there's been a couple of opportunities, but the, you know, but the projects weren't quite the right thing. Yeah. But I'm hoping, yeah, that is a, that is something I would really like to do, and I'm, you know, and I'm looking for something that will allow me to. At the moment, I just practice on my phone, and I watch American movies on the TV, and I have a series of heartbreaking tapes or other recordings on my iPhone of me doing various states of the United States.

And we're not going to hear any. I know. It's okay. But I'm just curious. Like, what are you literally saying it's your phone? I had a conversation with Denzel or Denzel Washington the other day. He was in a movie, and I had a quick conversation with Denzel. Because I admire him so tremendously.

Anyway, no, I'm just, you know, when I'm on my own and you hear it in your head, because I do do accents. I mean, I've been required professionally to do, you know, various regional British accents and Australian accents and other kinds of accents. And I'm quite, I'm quite keen on doing all that. And I do have an ear for it. I mean, you know, I mean, I think you either have an ear or you don't. I don't know. But so, and the one that is left to do, you know, publicly is an American accent. Or, I should say, you know, several American accents.

Right. Because I was going to say the reverse. Like for us here in America, as far as we're concerned, there's just one British accent. There's nothing. We're very single-minded that way. We don't understand nuance or... Yeah. Well, I know. It's very strange that. But it's not quite the same. But only because I study it a bit on my own, you know, and I hear different... I don't necessarily don't know where they come from, which part of America. but you know it's like I think it's very important that you don't do a generic accent because then and that gets you into trouble and often that doesn't sound for real and it's like Rennie Zellweger is a great example of doing a British accent she doesn't just do a British accent she does a really specific yeah English way of speaking I don't know how she's done it I mean she's a genius anyway I mean I think she's just incredible and but the Bridget Jones is what I'm talking about she does that

that's a very very specific English voice and she's it's It's not some, you know, it didn't come out of some, you know, package. That's, she's really found something. I think that's something that, I mean, I feel like I've talked to a lot of actors and filmmakers about, not even just about accents, but specificity just in the arts in terms of creating something. The more, it might be counterintuitive, but the more kind of like focused and individual and unique, the story, the angle, the accent, whatever, even if you lose some of the audience seemingly, it resonates in a more authentic way.

I couldn't agree more. I think that's the key. Absolutely, I agree. So, bringing it back to their finest for a second, I mean, I'm curious, like, are you a quick yes when you read a script? Do you labor over it? Yeah, I have been known. In this case, it was a quick yes because the script was great, the part was great, and it

was Lona Sherfig. And I wanted to work with Lona for a while, and we tried a couple of times, and it hasn't come off because of various other things. And this was an obvious opportunity. and everything about it was attractive. But I do sometimes I labor, yeah, sure. You know, there are sort of borderline things and you're not quite sure

or there are elements that, you know, alarm you more than usual. So I have been, you know, I'm not terrific at making decisions if it's sort of borderline. But there are, what's great is when you get a script and you say yes on page 20. Yeah.

And unless something terrible happens, unless I have to get naked and cut. and cut my wrists and smear myself with margarine. All three of those or one of those? Any of those, really. It's amazing how many scripts I get. It's amazing how many scripts I've had lately where they require me to be naked. And it's like you go, where were you, you know, 30 years ago when it might have been, you know, a halfway attractive idea of me being naked.

You think you want to see me naked. You don't want to see me naked. Bill is sitting in his naked right now. Yeah, I'm naked now. But that's fine. That's so that you and I can relax. Am I allowed to say? I'm glad it took about 30 minutes into the conversation for us to mention that we were naked for the conversation.

Yeah, I don't know why it took so long. And there are three young women doing their iPhones here at the same time. Totally uninterested. Totally uninteresting up in the corner. Yeah, they couldn't even give a damn. There was a time when I took my shirt off, people paid attention. Stunned silence. In the old days.

Oh, we've lost our train of thought. I'm sorry. Don't worry. Nakedness. No, no. Saying yes. Saying yes. On page 20, if it's good. And this was, their finest was one of those. I didn't have to get to the end before I said yes in my head. And I mean, you know, and I want to work with Loner again. And she sent me, she gave me a script for a further film. And I read it on the plane. You know, I read it at the moment she gave it to me. And, you know, and texted her immediately afterwards and say, yeah, come on, let's do that. Well, I would think this also checks the boxes, just in terms of, like, from your perspective, it's both a juicy, fun, interesting role, and also, obviously, the film itself works, which is like you want A or B, and this you get both.

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, everything about it was, I love the period. I love the fact that it gives you a real sense of what it was like to be in London in 1940, which is a period for which most people in England of a certain vintage, me, my generation, I was born just after the war, and a couple of other. generations have an intense nostalgia for that period which generally broadly speaking people who weren't there because if you were there it was a brutal time but they made these films to it's a film about making a film and they made these films to keep everybody's spirits up but also

to deliver certain information and and under the most ridiculously difficult conditions with no money and no resources and whilst being savagely bombarded by another country and while people died every day, so you know, you didn't know who was going to be alive around to be in the film the next morning. And yet they managed not only to deliver the information and keep everybody's spirits up, they made some pretty good films. But this film itself is, you know, it's, I like when people, you know, if the film or the book or the song or the whatever has something, as you might say, big to deliver. Sure. It doesn't forget that in this case, for instance, it doesn't forget that it's going to be a great night out. It doesn't

get to entertain you. And that's the balance, that's the Holy Grail, and that's what everybody's after. And that's why, when you get to page 20 of their finest, you just go, yeah, yeah, yeah, let me be in this, you know, because it does both of those, all of those things, which is, and information travels best, obviously, in an entertaining point. Exactly. Is the actor that you play in this? Do you consider, is he a good actor?

I think, I don't know, really. I've never, I mean, people used to ask me that while I was doing it, which is slightly unsettling. Are you playing a good actor? Well, if you have to ask that question, I think we've already answered it. I think he probably is. He's certainly serious about acting.

I mean, I think in the middle of the thing, one of the very few things that's sort of, you know, attractive about him is the fact that I think he's quite serious about acting. Not just in a stuck-up, you know, in a stuck-up Lardida way, but in a genuine way. He's kind of interested in the whole phenomenon of it. You know, and I mean, you know, people say, you know, you're playing this chronically self-absorbed

pompous actor in his declining years but I do think that in the end there is a kind of resolution for him and you do see that there's something there's something in there that's still intact absolutely he's a fair to say he's a bit of ham is that helpful as an actor is there I mean it's part of the DNA I think of most actors

you have to have a little bit of showmanship wanting I mean there's some compulsion to perform entertain I guess so, yeah. You do, yeah. And it's, it was, you know, and because I get to play the part in the movie that we're making in the movie that you watch, as well as the actor himself, that was fun to do. Yeah. So give me a sense. I mentioned when you came in, I've seen you on stage here. Obviously, you love the stage. You're amazing on the stage. Do you view it? I mean, I've talked to different actors with different view points. Like, do you view it as a different art form? Do you view it as different acting? Do you have to think I'm acting to the back of the room as opposed to that camera five feet away from me? Well, there are technical considerations of that kind. You know, you just have, you have to be heard and you have to raise your voice. But other than that, I mean, and that takes a little while to get used to, you know.

But other than that, it's pretty much the same deal. You know, the acting, although technically, as I say, different, it's pretty much the same, what's required is the same thing. Yeah. And I, you know, I grew up in the theatre and I never, and I expected my life to be in the theatre. And I do, to say I love it, I don't know, because it just is so... Is Bill capable of loving anything? He's so, he's so upset. You know, I love John Lee Hooker.

There you go. Okay. You know, I love the blossom in London right now. I love Fordmanichs Ford. I love... Okay, good. I love Isabelle Upaire. I love...

These are undeniable things that we can't. Coffee. I'm crazy about coffee. Okay, good. Like, days off. You know. I like bookshops. Are you planning, that being said, are you planning a torturous return to the stage for our benefit at some point?

It's all about us, not you. Yes, quite. Torturous, that's funny. Because it will be, whatever else it's going to be, it'll be torturous. No, clearly. No, I'm not. I stand in the wings every first night, every opening night of every play I think I've ever done, you know, where there was, since there was an alternative to doing plays, in other words, being on television or being in a, film with vowing with all of my body all of my system that this will never ever be allowed to

happen again what was i thinking i could be on a film set with somebody bringing me a cappuccino right you know i could be making you know more money i could be not terrified in the dark i could be you know all that but then you know the rewards are proportionate and there is you know i am you know i'm very you know i i i do love the theater as a thing you know i think it's the beautiful and and often you can say things in the theater that you can't say anywhere else because you know and it's it's a marvelous and beautiful collective at the thing but uh the doing of it is alarming do you i feel like you and and hugh probably get along pretty well you and you and hugh grant it feels like i've talked to him on the podcast before and it feels like there's a

similar kind of um you know being rough on yourself and and and and also just sort of like resolving why do i even bother with this kind of thing and yet and yet loving it at the same time it's obviously a strange kind of just position. I hope that's the case with Hugh. Because the irony is that when Hugh does that stuff to me, I'm always like, what do you mean? What are you crazy? You're incredible.

You're incredible, you know, you've got everything. You're, you know, you're incredibly impossibly good looking and you're really clever and you're fucking, you know, you're very, you know, because I love, I'm never happier than watching Hugh Grant. I mean, I go to all those movies, you know, I actually go to the movie. And he's one of the, I don't know, three people that would get me out of my house and into the movies these days, you know. And I went, he was honored recently in England, the British Film Institute.

had the wit to make him a fellow, they give him a fellowship of the British Film Institute. And I was very, very pleased. And I put on a black tie and went down there, and it was wonderful to see him honored in that way by his profession. And just one other note on theater, I'm just curious. Like, I'm always astounded by the focus it takes. I mean, my mind wanders in, you know,

in five minutes of just existing day to day. Do you find that theater can focus you like nothing else? Or are you also making shopping lists when you're on stage? No, no, no shopping lists. It's not around, not on, not around my way. No, no, you focus entirely. If you start, I mean, it's just too dangerous. You can't, you know, and it's a, it is actually a very engaging, you know, it's a fully engaging activity.

And I am, you know, it's not like, you know, it's not like, there's nothing I don't mean in any, you know, I don't attain some alternate state or anything like that. I've heard about that, but I don't know how it's psychologically possible because I have to be self-conscious in order to do the gig, you know. But I am, yeah, I mean, I'm so determined to get it all done and do it as well as I possibly can that I am fearfully focused. And, yeah. Do any of the quote-unquote next generation of British actors get particularly high marks from you in terms of the cumberbatches and the Hiddlestons and the red mains of the world who gets the top honors in your mind? Well, I'd rather, you know, there's a lot of great young English actors around, and I'd rather not mention any of them for fear of not mentioning others. Fair enough.

He hates them all. That's not true. That's not true. He loves them all too much to just admit one. No, I'm not going to give you anybody. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. All right, I'll give you one. Tom Brooke with an E.

Check him out. I will. I feel ignorant now. This is horrible. I always say Tom Brooke with an E because he's such a wonderful, beautiful comic actor. and I think the more people should know. Okay, I'm going to IMDB right after this. Taking a holiday after this press tour?

What's on the agenda? Do you know what's next? It's spring in London town and the blossom is out and it's very, very beautiful and I get so excited. And it's my favorite time of the year. And I've begun to count springs for obvious reasons. So I know, don't worry, it's not that morbid. But I am determined to make the most of every single moment.

I'm going to Australia and New Zealand, with this movie. I'm going to Melbourne and Sydney and Auckland, where I did make a movie in Auckland, and I made a movie in Melbourne. I made an underworld movie in Auckland. We made Return of the Lyons. Love it. I love it. And I love it there. So we're going to go there, and then I'm going to come home, and I can't remember what else I have to do. But one day at a time. One day at a time. You got a lot going on. Exactly. As I said, I'm such an admirer of your work, and it's been such a pleasure to get to know you a little bit today. Thank you. Congratulations. their finest, everybody should check it out.

I'm a big fan of everybody in this cast. Jamma, Sam, it's an exceptional cast. And check it out for both something that, yeah, it is educational, as you said, in terms of sort of like that time frame, but it's also, as you also said, a fun time at the movies. It makes you feel something.

Thanks, Bill. My pleasure. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley,

and I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh. This episode of Happy, Sad, Confuse was produced by Michael Catano, James T. Green, Moufah, Mohan, and Kashamahilovich for the MTV Podcast Network,

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