Bill Nighy On Lazy Actors & Stage Fright

Bill Nighy is proof that actors — that men — can be stylish and suave after the age of 65. In this new interview, he chides actors for not learning their lines before showing up for rehearsal. But my favorite bit in this self-deprecating talk about his career, at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, comes when Nighy is asked if he had suffered with anxiety throughout his career, having to force himself to go on stage. Discussing how he had overcome it, he joked that standing still and keeping a straight face could convince audiences the character was having deep thoughts. “People make millions of dollars doing this,” he said.

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