Bill Nighy is a legend. That's just a statement of fact. Even if you think you don't know him, you do. His face and voice are unmistakable, and he's been in hundreds of movies and TV shows.
Today, ostensibly, we're talking about his new movie The Limehouse Golem. A tight, smart little semi-historical Victorian mystery movie in which Inspector John Kildare (Nighy) has to solve a series of murders which people suspect are the doings of a monster rather than a man. It's written by Kingsman and X-Men: First Class writer Jane Goldman. But you can't keep a great British actor, or conversationalist for that matter, to just one subject for long.
GQ: There's a real blend of fiction and reality in The Limehouse Golem. How do you prepare for a role like that?
I love that balance between real historical figures and the fictional context, because it kind of... turns your head around. I like the murders, the Ratcliff Highway murders. The set of murders that the film focuses on. They really happened, and they remain unsolved.
Dance like nobody is watching, DM like your boss is definitely watching.
I like the fact that, in the film, the suspects are all famous real people. Like, for instance, Karl Marx. You find yourself thinking, "Well, was Karl Marx in London?" Yeah, Karl Marx was in London. "Was he really a suspect for the Ratcliff Highway... ?" No, he wasn't. Obviously.
It was a very good script and I've waited a long time to be a detective, so I was very happy.
Is this the first time you've played a detective?
Yeah. You know, you'd think I'd have got around to that by now. I could get used to it.
There are some pretty gruesome sights to be seen in the film. I like those kind of films. A reference might be From Hell, the Johnny Depp movie. Victorian London looks good on film, and Victorian London was like the Wild West. It was unregulated and all kind of terrible things used to happen, largely after dark.
I'm still wrapping my head around you never having played a detective before.[laughs] I know. I've done straight roles and I've been involved in the genre world, you know, as a vampire largely. I was very happy as a vampire, and as a squid, obviously, and as a zombie for that matter. But I've never actually strayed into what you might call thriller really, before. So, it's cool.
You opposite Olivia Cooke in this film. She's one of my favorite up and coming genre actors. Do you think you were able to impart any wisdom? Did she impart wisdom on you?
Oh, she doesn't need any wisdom from me. She is dreamy to work with. I was very happy acting with her, but she doesn't need any help.
The thing about acting, the dirty secret, is you don't have to wait to be any good. You can hit the ground running. I know young actors who are far more accomplished than some of the older actors I know would ever be, so it doesn't matter the age on your passport.
You inherited this role from Alan Rickman, who the film is dedicated to. Were the two of you able to talk about the role before you took over?
No, because Alan became indisposed. I was working with Steven Woolley on another film called Their Finest. His next project was this one with Alan, and then Alan became indisposed, but Alan dealt with that privately.
I don't think, you know... No one knew how ill he was. I didn't realize that he was terminally ill. I knew him reasonably well, and like everyone ... He was a deeply impressive man and a wonderful actor. He was a democrat and a gentleman, and it was a terrible shock. I know that everyone who ever came into contact with Alan Rickman admired him as a person, and I'm very pleased that the film is dedicated to him.
We're both big fans of Edgar Wright. You're one of the very few actors to have appeared in all three of his Cornetto Trilogy movies.
[laughs] The cornetto, the ice cream movies, yes.
Is he someone you'd like to work with again?
Yes. I haven't seen Baby Driver but everybody tells me it's absolutely marvelous and I can't wait to see it. We are in touch a little bit. He's very big, as you know probably, on music. On Shaun of the Dead we used to swap burned CDs with all kinds of stuff. He turned me on to—what's that band called? Are they called Heroes of Death Metal? No, Eagles of Death Metal. I remember that was one of his hot music tips. I'm very fond of Edgar and he's a wonderful filmmaker.
What music did you give him?
Predictably, I'm a Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison kind of guy. Johnny "Guitar" Watson. I think he likes Johnny "Guitar." Everybody likes Johnny "Guitar" once they're exposed to him. But he was a bit more niche than I am, and he had all kinds of people I'd never heard of.
I gotta ask, because it was so out of left-field: At the end of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, your character shows up in a post-credits teaser. Have you been approached about that yet?
No! It's funny, I've only just heard about this, because I haven't seen the movie yet. I haven't been approached, but I'm very happy to hear that I make an appearance. It's quite odd to make an appearance in a film without knowing.
A taxi driver told me about it, would you believe. He said, "Are you doing the next Pirates?" I said, "No, I don't think so." He said, "Well, you were in the last one." I was very taken aback.