By request, I am inaugurating the appreciation post. Our first winner of this august and some would say dubious honor (given the minds involved) is the English actor Bill Nighy. We tried to contact Mr. Nighy via Facebook, but his page is locked. So if anybody knows him, please tell him to friend either Holly Comesoftly or Geppetto Jones on Facebook.
So why Bill Nighy? Look at the man’s body of work– its diverse and spans four mediums: theater, tv, film, and radio. The radio I had no clue about until Holly raved about his performance last week in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Educating Rita.
While one of my favorite performance of his is in The Girl in the Café; I did really enjoy his suave Quentin in The Boat That Rocked (a.k.a Pirate Radio).
- As Quentin in Pirate Radio
His film career seemed to go into overdrive in the last decade with this being just a sample of the movies you should see:
Love Actually – Yes, its a ensemble cast, but he makes the most of his role as Billy Mack.
The Boat That Rocked (a.k.a. Pirate Radio) - I don’t know how they shot the scenes on the boat, but he just seems to glide in his scenes while the other characters are gripping onto various objects.
Underworld Trilogy – Bill Nighy is one of only two reasons to watch any of the Underworld films. The other reason being Kate Beckinsale and later Rhona Mitra in black leather.
Shaun of the Dead - The only zombie movie I can actually sit through and enjoy.
Hot Fuzz
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest And At The World’s End
Valkyrie – Now Valkyrie is the weird one on the list. I love all of the other cast members: Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Terence Stamp, and Tom Wilkinson. At some point, I image we’ll be doing an appreciation post for all of those actors just mentioned– assuming that Kenneth Branagh doesn’t screw up directing duties on Thor. There’s only so far my love of Dead Again can allow him to skate. At any rate, neither Holly or myself has actually seen Valkyrie. Its the Tom Cruise as Nazi thing that just doesn’t work for us. Not unlike Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire.
So there you have it… Bill Nighy, somewhat unsung actor– at least on this side of the pond. We salute you.
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In regards to Valkyrie…I am a HUGE Kenneth Branagh fan (American). So when I found out he was doing this movie about Nazis with Tom Cruise I did get nervous. But knowing that Bryan Singer was at the helm helped me get over that. My husband and I went to see this movie in the theater. We rarely like the same movies. I like quirky English films and romantic comedies and he likes to see things blow up. We both loved this film. We have been married 24 years and we held hands (out of sheer fright) through the entire film. Of course in the end, we knew the results, but the ride was totally exciting and unexpected.
Thank you for that. Its like movie Valkyrie was released in a vacuum. I can’t recall the critics saying anything about. And nobody I know saw the movie when it was released in the theaters or on DVD. You’ve got good taste since you are a Branagh fan and a Singer fan. I’ve been a Bryan Singer fan since The Usual Suspects, X-Men, and his executive producing duties on House.
So if you prefer “quirky English films and romantic comedies” and your husband likes explosions– have you tried Guy Ritche movies? Obviously they lean heavy on the action but they are quirky and funny in gallows humor kind of way.
I finally figured out why I love Bill Nighy so much. It’s the nervous chuckle/snort combo. It gets me every time.
Yes, Bill is definitely at the top of the old guys I’d like to f*** list.