There are seven British actors who are in everything, and Billy Nighy has no plans to give up his spot on that roster. Speaking to The Independent, Nighy says he plans on acting even past when he can physically stand. “I’ve never heard any good news about retirement and I have no plans to retire,” he said. “I’m in a job which you can do fortunately as long as you can remain upright. And well, actually you don’t have to remain upright. As long as you can deliver a line sitting down, you could probably get some kind of employment.” Nighy also said he’s not the type of actor who needs to go full Method. “If you’re in the company of anybody who suggests that an actor has to feel everything that they portray, then you’re talking to somebody who’s basically an amateur,” Nighy, the fucking pro, said. “Often it’s a way to punish actors. I think drama teachers do it sometimes to control students. To just stand there and say, ‘You’re not feeling it.’ How do you know I’m not feeling it? What am I supposed to be feeling? You don’t have to have been bereaved in order to act somebody who’s bereaved. Otherwise, well, how would we proceed? Y’know, acting is acting.” So take that, Method-heads and people who think they’re too old for a franchise. Nighy will be acting and not really feeling it until he’s feeling nothing at all in the ground.
