Bill Nighy on style, social media and holy socks: ‘I can’t operate in the wrong kind of trousers’
Bill Nighy is a man of many talents – but he knows his limitations – most specifically in the trouser department.
The 74-year-old actor tells Sky News he has very clear sartorial demands when it comes to his acting rider.
“It’s odd, people used to say: ‘There’s a significant lack of classical work on your CV’. And I would say something like: ‘The reason is, I can’t operate in those kind of trousers,’ which is a joke, but it’s also kind of true.
“If you want me at my best, put me in a decent lounge suit. It’s a stupid thing for an actor to say, but art does reflect life.”
And he’s not afraid to bring his own life quite literally into his films, adding: “If it’s a contemporary film and it’s an independent film and they haven’t got a lot of money, I just say, ‘Come to my flat,’ and I open the wardrobe and they can take out whatever they want for that movie. So, the two things do blend.”
He’s currently starring in underdog sports drama The Beautiful Game, playing a retired football talent scout coaching England’s team in the Homeless World Cup.
Founded in 2001, the real-life international tournament that inspired the movie now involves over 70 countries and has transformed the lives of more than one million homeless people.
Former Homeless World Cup players – who are no longer homeless – feature in the film, playing team members from other countries, which Nighy calls “a wonderful piece of symmetry”.
He of course wore a suit and tie for the majority of the film, despite it being shot in Rome during a heatwave. Scorching weather aside, he says: “It was quite fun to stand on the touchline and scream.”
Nighy as football talent scout Mal in The Beautiful Game. Pic: Netflix
While Nighy may not necessarily look the part of a stereotypical football coach, he does work on his fitness, training three times a week. It’s something he insists he won’t be “winning any prizes for”, and he certainly won’t be sharing snaps of his workouts on Instagram.
‘My iPhone doesn’t see a lot of action’
He explains: “I’ve never been on social media. I’m lucky in that regard because I’m of an age where I can just about get away with it.
“I nearly went on it. I got very close to, I think it was Instagram, but I didn’t in the end make that jump.
“I don’t have a laptop. I mean, I’m carrying a computer in my pocket, obviously, like everybody else, but I’ve never had a computer. I’ve never owned one, again because I’m fortunate. I don’t need one for anything. I’ve got an iPhone, but there’s not a lot of action on it apart from, you know, the obvious.”
I can only guess ‘the obvious’ is phoning his nearest and dearest, including his daughter and friends. Nighy keeps his romantic dealings close to his chest, and since splitting with his partner of 26 years, he hasn’t been publicly linked to anyone new – either in the public eye or out.
Nighy with friend Anna Wintour at the Met Gala last year. Pic: Reuters
As one of Britain’s most recognisable actors, he’s humble in his appraisal of his five decade career spanning theatre, TV and film – reaching to Hollywood and back.
‘I didn’t expect acting to last’
“I don’t know what I’m cut out to be, but it probably isn’t an actor, although I don’t know if anybody is. I think we all have to bend ourselves out of shape to do whatever it is we do.
“I didn’t expect to be an actor. I didn’t expect when I became an actor that it would last very long. I didn’t have a Plan B, it was all basically out of necessity.
“I flunked school, so I didn’t have any qualifications for anything, and I didn’t have a Plan B, so I had no safety net. But, you know, it gradually worked out.”
With two BAFTAs, a Golden Globe and Teen Choice Award (yes really) to name but a few of his accolades, he’s being modest.
And his acting career is about to take a step into the unknown, with his first big horror role in First Omen coming to the screen next month.
Nighy as Cardinal Lawrence in The First Omen. Pic: Disney/20th Century Studios
A prequel to the 1976 original, it returns to the very beginning of the story, with Nighy warning it’s not a film for the feint hearted: “The early signs suggest that it is truly horrible.”
Red satin and holy socks
He does have a wide experience of otherworldly roles, if not out and out horror. Nighy lists a few. “In Shaun Of The Dead I was a werewolf. Yeah, I was a werewolf.”
(Nighy was actually a zombie, but the movie was filmed 20 years ago, and who’s splitting hairs?)
He goes on: “And I’ve been a vampire several times. And I’ve been a squid. If you count animations, I’ve been a rattle snake with a machine gun in its tail. But they’re not straight horror. [First Omen] is really my first horror movie, like what you’d call straight horror. So, it is a departure.”
It goes without saying he was well suited and booted for the role.
“I was dressed by the Vatican tailor. So, you can see I look my best if you’re going to be a priest. And I’m drenched in red satin”.
Rumour has it he was given holy socks from the Vatican shop as part of his costume. Blessed beyond doubt.
Nighy ‘can’t stand’ his own films
He says it “will frighten the life” out of its viewers, adding “a few people I’ve met who’ve seen it and who are horror freaks were stunned. One journalist actually said [they were] traumatised.”
But he doesn’t have to worry about nightmares himself. “I’ve never seen it and I’m never going to see it because I don’t watch films I’m in because I can’t stand it.”
Pic: Netflix
Meanwhile, his latest offering, The Beautiful Game, is a very different prospect, crafted to leave the viewer uplifted rather than in pieces.
Nighy says it’s a feelgood nostalgia that takes him right back to his childhood. “The deal was when I was a kid, you went, you paid some money, you went to the cinema, and you came out feeling a bit better than you did when you went in. This is what [The Beautiful Game] is.”
The Beautiful Game is streaming now on Netflix, and The First Omen will be in cinemas from 5 April.
The Princess of Wales has said cancer “makes you appreciate all the small things in life” as she met patients and staff at the hospital that treated her.
Kate had words of support – and hugs – for those dealing with the disease at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital.
She thanked medical teams during the visit – which was also the first confirmation of where she was treated.
As she arrived, the princess said it was nice to enter through the main entrance after “having made so many quiet, private visits”.
Kate met a woman wearing a cold cap, who was on her first day of treatment, and told several patients to try to keep “doing the things that give you joy”.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: PA
Pic: Reuters
Talking about a cancer diagnosis, Kate said: “It makes you appreciate all the small things in life that you take for granted.”
“It’s really tough,” she told one patient having chemotherapy. “It’s such a shock”.
She added: “It’s the uncertainty of that initial diagnosis.
“It’s such a wealth of information. Understanding the diagnosis, it’s a massive amount of information to take on as a patient.”
Kate said trying to stay positive had made “such a difference” – and that getting “loads of water and loads of sunlight” had helped her feel better.
The 43-year-old revealed in September she had finished chemotherapy for an undisclosed form of cancer, calling the last six months “incredibly tough”.
In March 2024, the princess confirmed she was having preventative treatment after tests following abdominal surgery found cancer had been present.
The princess was also introduced to therapy dog Scout. Pic: PA
Kensington Palace said the princess had wanted to “show her gratitude to the incredible team, but also highlight the world-leading care and treatment the Marsden provides”.
During the visit, Kate said she was feeling well, but recalled the toll treatment can take, saying “sometimes you feel relatively well, and then you have another one”.
“Sometimes from the outside we all think you’ve finished treatment and you go back to things. But it’s hard to get back to normal,” she added.
As she left, she hugged a woman who appeared to be a visitor, assuring her there was “light at the end of that tunnel” and “you are in the best of hands”.
Prince William praised his wife’s strength last week as he shared a picture to mark her birthday and called her “the most incredible wife and mother”.
He added: “The strength you’ve shown over the last year has been remarkable. George, Charlotte, Louis and I are so proud of you. Happy Birthday, Catherine. We love you. W.”
William previously described 2024 as “brutal” and probably “the hardest year” of his life after the King was also diagnosed with cancer.
Kate will now join Prince William as a royal patron of the Royal Marsden – a leading specialist cancer hospital that treats more than 59,000 patients every year.
Despite today’s hospital visit, Kensington Palace stressed the princess’s return to public-facing duties would continue to take place gradually.
“Today was about visiting the Marsden to reflect on her own personal journey,” a spokesperson said.
Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has been named by investigators in Bangladesh who allege she was involved in the illegal allocation of land to members of her family while serving as an MP.
Sky News has obtained an affidavit – or legal written statement – filed by the anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh that accuses Ms Siddiq and others of being involved in fraudulently obtaining plots in the diplomatic zone of a development near to the country’s capital Dhaka.
The document states: “While serving as a Member of the British parliament, it is known that [Ms Siddiq] exerted pressure and influence on her aunt, the former prime minister, to take measures for the allotment of plots in the same project in the names of her mother, Mrs Rehana Siddiq, her sister Ms Azmina Siddiq, and her brother Mr Radwan Mujib Siddiq.”
Politics latest:
Badenoch blames ‘peasants’ for grooming scandal
Tulip Siddiq MP in 2019. Pic: Reuters
The director general of the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission Akhtar Hossain told Sky News: “Tulip Siddiq and former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina misused… power to take the plot from the Purbachal New Town Project.”
Investigators allege that planning officials were bribed and pressured into fraudulently allocating land.
A Labour source said Tulip Siddiq totally refutes the claims and had not been contacted by anyone on the matter.
The source also said no evidence had been presented for the allegations.
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Tulip Siddiq is asked if she will step down but gives no indication one way or the other.
Tulip Siddiq had already been named in Bangladeshi court documents, also seen by Sky News, relating to alleged embezzlement from a nuclear power project in the country.
Labour sources suggested the accusations were not genuine.
That court claim was made by Bobby Hajjaj, a political opponent of Ms Siddiq’s aunt – the former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Ms Hasina fled Bangladesh in August and resigned her post amid weeks of deadly protests.
The new government has since accused the previous Awami League administration of crimes and corruption while in office.
Read more:
What allegations is Tulip Siddiq facing?
Siddiq refers herself to ethics watchdog
Minister caught up in anti-corruption probe
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Shadow chancellor calls on PM to sack minister
Tulip Siddiq has come under increasing pressure over her links to her aunt’s political party, with Sky News revealing she boasted about her connections to the Awami League in blog posts from 2008 and 2009.
The anti-corruption minister has also been found to have lived in several London properties with links to alleged allies of her aunt’s regime.
Tulip Siddiq (far left) with her aunt, Sheikh Hasina (third left), and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a 2013 signing ceremony in the Kremlin as Moscow lent $1.5bn to help build a nuclear power station. File pic: AP
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has since called for her to be suspended as a minister.
The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition has also said Ms Siddiq should step aside from the money laundering and economic crime brief she currently holds.
“The clear conflict of interest surrounding Tulip Siddiq presents a key test for the new government… as anti-corruption experts, it is clear to us that she should not hold responsibility for these sensitive areas in her portfolio”, said Peter Munro, senior coordinator at the anti-corruption coalition.
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