Youd believe it if he actually possessed the capacity to coo.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: InNorm of the North, youre the voice of a bird wearing your signature black-framed eyeglasses.
Is he an eagle?
Credit: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
BILL NIGHY:No, hes more like an albatross or a gull.
Hes a sea bird of some kind.
Hes a very senior gull, obviously, since Im playing him.
What attracted you to the film?
Oh, I loved my character.
The whole thing was attractive.
It was a great script and its about something current going on in the Arctic.
I notice that you have a lot of experience doing radio dramas for the BBC.
I just finished one actually.
I do at least one every year.
I doCharles Paris Mysteries, and Ive been doing that particular program for 10 years.
I play an actor sleuth, who drinks too much and smokes too much and doesnt work very much.
But every time he does go to work, somebody gets murdered.
Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun.
I quite enjoy doing them.
And I did another radio show recently calledSubterranean Homesick Blues.
That was for BBC Radio 4 also.
I think you could get themsomewhere on the internet.
And I saw youve done a version ofEducating Ritaa few years ago, plus some Noel Coward.
I didPrivate Liveswith Helena Bonham Carter.
Ive done a lot.
I was kind of an apprentice on the radio when I was a young actor.
That was as valuable as anything that ever happened to me.
And you played Sam in aLord of the Ringsradio production.
Was that your first?
No, I did masses of other radio when I was young.
A hundred plays or something.
But the flagships for me were some Dickens.
We didBleak House, we didLittleDorrit.
And, yes, then Tolkien.
We didLord of the Ringsin 1981 and that was the biggest radio drama of all time.
There were 26 episodes.
Does that experience still resonate for you?
My voice is embedded in their early consciousness.
Radio has never gone away, right?
Even now, podcasts are so popular.
I love the radio.
BBC Radio is a vital part of our cultural life, not to sound too precious about it.
I had no plans to make statements like that today, but its true.
Radio is so crucial.
Well, primitive is one way of putting it.
Radio shows are simple.
But they can be as powerful as anything youve got, depending on the material and the performances.
Its true for live theater too.
I mean, we still go in droves.
Theres a play that runs in London now, its been running for years, calledThe Woman in Black.
Its two guys telling a ghost story.
And people leap into each others laps.
But this is just from the storytelling.
Did you lose yours?
And she was not unfamiliar with the big technological entertainments.
But theater and radio are different.
They are more special.
How does using your voice for animated characters deepen your understanding of acting?
Well, it accustomed me to the discipline of focusing entirely on my voice.
And knowing thats all you have.
Animation artists are heroic.
Its an enormous investment in terms of time before they see the thing let lose in the world.
Did you record with the other actors inNorm of the North?
No, there were multiple sessions but for this particular film I did my scenes alone.
I heard the other voices and I had the pictures to act along with.
But I did it in isolation.
That must be difficult.
I risk heresy here, but it was fine.
Just me and the bird and no restrictions.
I think it can work very well, though I dont think thats something that Im supposed to say.
But youve spoken a bit about the advantages of solitude.
My first impulse is to isolate [laughs].
I dont know why Im laughing.
But I love nothing more than to go out alone for a walk around the city.
In fact, Im doing it today.
Its a beautiful winters day in London.
Weve had the loveliest weather.
Its worrying, of course, though its lovely.
Youre performance as Davy Jones in thePiratesmovies is almost 10 years old and its still amazing to look at.
And he said, Oh, no, I was just lying.
Which was refreshingly frank.
But he wasnt lying, was he?
Which, in fact, turned out to be true, and quite rightly.
Unbelievable, simply unbelievable, what they did.
What roles are you most often recognized for, both in England and the rest of the world?
Worldwide, Im that sad, old rockerBilly Mack fromLove Actually.
Then lots and lots of people will come up to me and ask, Are you Davy Jones?
And I think they must have watched the DVD extras.
Well, we do see your real face for one quick scene in the third movie.
Ah, thats true too.
ThatsShaun of the Dead,Hot FuzzandWorlds End.
Young men between the ages of 13 and 27 would know me from those.
And if I go further afield, particularly if I go East, thenUnderworldis massive.
Ive got the genre crowd, to some degree.
But you give a really touching performance.
And it also let you sound off a little bit about your personal politics.
What that a fortifying experience for you?
Yeah, it was.
I couldnt believe my luck when I got that script.
It deals with two things which are close to my heart.
Margaret Thatcher destroyed whole communities in her ideological quest to crush the Trade Union movement.
Can you tell us something about it?
I cant yet, except that I admire Bong Joon Ho and I admire the script.
I was in New York doing a play last summer and we met then.
He might film it in New York, which would make sense.
That play,Skylight, scored you a Tony nomination.
I hope it wont be the last we see of you on the New York stage.
I hope not, I loved it.
I really liked the actor who played your son in it.
Yes [laughs], Matthew Beard, hes very, very good.
He absolutely did do that.
Like a lot of very talented people, hes a cheeky sod.
