Bill Nighy plays a bureaucrat in early 1950’s London in Living, which opens Friday, January 6 in the Bay Area. Photo Credit: Ross Ferguson / Sony Pictures Classics
Bill Nighty thinks about it Queen. Not the end of her reign with her death in September, but the beginning.
One of young Williams’ earliest memories was of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in the summer of 1953 when he was just three years old. Even at this young age, he vividly recalls the historic moment of being amidst the crowds on the parade route.
“I got a coronation cup. We were in the park,” Nighy recalled. “There were a lot of flags and someone gave me – I think it was probably the first thing I registered that was mine – a mug with the Queen’s head on it.”
It was a different time, a different England. And it’s a time Nighy revisited for his new film Living, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 Japanese classic Ikiru.
The sizable segment of his fan base that associates Nighy with rock star Billy Mack, his wild and cantankerous character in Love Actually, or his role as Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, might have trouble accepting the fellow player recognize Mr. Williams. In “Living” Nighy is a stuffy London bureaucrat who afterwards For decades stuck in a dead end, he is shaken by an incurable cancer diagnosis.
As the title suggests, the film, adapted by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro and directed by Oliver Hermanus, is about life, not death. Mr. Williams’ obsession with cutting down the bureaucracy in order to have a children’s park built is an act of redemption for world building that would last well beyond his time on earth.
Nighy, who has also appeared in films such as Shaun of the Dead, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Emma‘ spoke to The Chronicle from New York in December, just days before he turned 73.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Review: Bill Nighy delivers a brilliant, subtle performance in “Living”.
Bill Nighy plays a bureaucrat who finds he doesn’t have long to live in Living. Photo Credit: Ross Ferguson / Sony Pictures Classics
Q: I found it interesting that Kurosawa’s original Ikiru was made in 1952 and set during that time period, and Living is also set in the early 1950’s. So one talks about current issues and yours looks 70 years into the past. How did the “Living” inform?
A: Actually, I feel like the general mood of this film is a timely thing. During the pandemic, we’ve all been thrown back to what really matters: your family, your friends, your work, art, compassion, kindness. This movie played really, really into it.
We live in difficult times. The film has been running in England for some time and my phone has been off the hook, full of messages. People say they are electrified by the film, they are inspired by it. COVID has forced us to reconsider our priorities.
Bill Nighy says that England in the 1950s was “a progressive time towards liberal democracy”. Photo Credit: Ross Ferguson / Sony Pictures Classics
Q: You grew up in the 50’s. What memories do you have of that time?
A: My father (Alfred Nighy, who ran an auto repair shop after working as a chimney sweep) would have been almost contemporaneous with the character I play in the film. I’m not playing my dad or anything, but my dad wasn’t a million miles away from that type of character. He was a very reserved man. He was modest in his general demeanor. And he had a passion for manners that went beyond their strategic value.
He was a principled man in all areas, not the least of which was how one behaved towards a woman. Anyway, this isn’t about my father, I have to say. But I remember the general atmosphere at the time. This period was progressive in terms of social development. The National Health Service (established in 1948), which educated the sons and daughters of the working class – it was a progressive period towards liberal democracy.
People glossed over the ’50s because the ’60s overshadowed them, and everything people say about the ’60s is largely mythical. As Keith Richards says, the ’50s were black and white and the ’60s were colour. But the 1950s were actually a very interesting time. I’m fascinated by it.
That’s not to say I admire all of this, and I resisted it growing up. But now in hindsight — not that I want anything back from sexism, homophobia, or racism — but there was a certain level of heroism in the level of restraint that humans demanded of themselves as social animals.
Margaret (Aimee Lou Wood) becomes an important figure in the life of Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy) in Living. Photo Credit: Ross Ferguson / Sony Pictures Classics
Q: What do you mean the ’60s were largely mythical?
A: When people say ’60s, they often mean ’70s. One speaks of free love. I mean give me a break. What does this refer to? And the permissive society? Well, it was heavily suppressed in the ’60s. Homosexuality wasn’t legalized until 1968 and feminism was just beginning.
It really is like civilization started relatively recently as we have been living on the planet for thousands of years. Women did not get the right to vote in the UK until 1928. You know, it’s a little late in the day. But we’ll get there.
There’s a lot of false nostalgia out there for a time that never was.
After years of working in television, stage and films, Bill Nighy rose to stardom in the 2003 film Love Actually, who played rock star Billy Mack. Photo: Peter Berg / Universal Pictures
Q: 20 years ago you made Love Actually, a pivotal film in your career. Looking back, what do you think of this film and what does it mean to you?
A: I have nothing but a deep, deep love for this film and gratitude for what it has done for me for changing my life. I will never be able to thank Richard Curtis (writer/director) enough for not obviously being cast in this film.
Who would have thought that it would penetrate the language to this extent? I met a woman on the street and she told me she had just joined a choir and I said, ‘Well, that’s great.’ And she said it was actually called ‘Choir’ and they were singing all the Christmas carols in the film . (laughs.)
People tell me it helped them through their divorce or their chemotherapy. There isn’t a country in the world where they don’t know.
“Life” (PG-13) begins Friday, January 6 at Landmark’s Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Ave., SF, www.landmarktheatres.com. Expanding to additional Bay Area theaters throughout January.
