Balance September 2017 - 24
platform heels, a top that did not meet my trousers,
eye make-up and hair extensions. I had to karaoke
to Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. After all that,
you really want to go home.' But you must have
loved acting, Bill, to keep going? 'I don't love acting;
I did acting because I didn't want to do some other
things. When I got into drama school, they [the
teachers] said, "we hope you realise there may be
long periods where you're out of work," and I had
to keep a straight face because that's exactly what I
THE TENDENCY TO THINK
BADLY OF ONE'S SELF IS
AN INVERTED FORM OF
EGOISM. I'VE HAD TO
STARVE THAT TO DEATH
had in mind. Long periods of no work. That's what I
call glamour. It still gives me a thrill to walk around
when everybody else is at work.'
TEA, ACTUALLY
Bill apparently chain-drinks
Yorkshire Tea... which is handy
since he voiced the TV ads
back in 2006
24
'I was never a hippy.' He explains: 'My hair went
very violently curly when I reached puberty, which
was a bit of a disaster because it meant I could
never be in the Rolling Stones or The Beatles.' What
about Led Zeppelin? T-Rex? 'They had wavy hair,
you see, not curly. I'm talking white afro.'
A jobbing actor, Bill toured the country with
Liverpool's Everyman Theatre and the National.
But there was one aspect of the career that he hated.
'I was terrible at auditioning,' he says slowly. 'I
became overwhelmed. Going into someone's office
at 9am to do an internal monologue while bouncing
up and down on an imaginary horse, sword fighting
with no sword, is pretty lonely. One audition was in
a disused tax office in Pinner. I was 46. They put me
in very tight hipster loon pants, 4in fake alligator
BA LA N CE September 2017
No such luck, Bill. Between theatre and dozens
of British TV roles, his career was pretty solid for
30-odd years. Then came Love Actually in 2003.
Richard Curtis' most beloved comedy dominates
the channels every Christmas, largely thanks to
Bill's scene-stealing turn as an aged rocker making
a comeback with a rendition of The Troggs'
classic Love Is All Around ('But we've swapped the
word love... to Christmas'). The days of playing on
pretend horseback were over; Bill hasn't auditioned
for a single role since.
'It changed my life,' he says. 'I remember doing
several jobs that year - Underworld, State of Play
and Love Actually - and I allowed myself to think
that if these things even half deliver, then I'll be
OK. Generally I don't allow myself to think
positively.' Why? He peers over his glasses, again.
'I don't know, Scarlett. I've never delved into
that. I don't think there's any interesting reason
for it. It became a bad habit.'
I suggest that in an industry so full of inflated
egos, perhaps being self-deprecating is his form
of preservation. 'It's not anything attractive like
modesty,' he argues. 'The tendency to think badly
of one's self is an inverted form of egoism. It's still
all about me, which is still self-absorbed and not
healthy. I've had to starve that to death a bit. I have
put in some time on that over the years. I've never
done any therapy. But I'm not against it.'
At this point, Bill steers the subject back to
acting. After Love Actually came Pirates of the
Caribbean, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and
The World's End ('the Cornetto trilogy') and his
IMAGES: BILL NIGHY, © ALEX BRAMALL/KINTZING, HEADSHOTS, PA PHOTOS
BILL IS ALL AROUND
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Balance September 2017
Balance September 2017 - 1
Balance September 2017 - 2
Balance September 2017 - 3
Balance September 2017 - 4
Balance September 2017 - 5
Balance September 2017 - 6
Balance September 2017 - 7
Balance September 2017 - 8
Balance September 2017 - 9
Balance September 2017 - 10
Balance September 2017 - 11
Balance September 2017 - 12
Balance September 2017 - 13
Balance September 2017 - 14
Balance September 2017 - 15
Balance September 2017 - 16
Balance September 2017 - 17
Balance September 2017 - 18
Balance September 2017 - 19
Balance September 2017 - 20
Balance September 2017 - 21
Balance September 2017 - 22
Balance September 2017 - 23
Balance September 2017 - 24
Balance September 2017 - 25
Balance September 2017 - 26
Balance September 2017 - 27
Balance September 2017 - 28
Balance September 2017 - 29
Balance September 2017 - 30
Balance September 2017 - 31
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Balance September 2017 - 33
Balance September 2017 - 34
Balance September 2017 - 35
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Balance September 2017 - 37
Balance September 2017 - 38
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Balance September 2017 - 40
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Balance September 2017 - 71
Balance September 2017 - 72
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