Our students arrived in droves to hear from double BAFTA and Golden Globe winning actor, Bill Nighy this week, the first of a series of planned masterclasses aimed at the interaction between filmmakers and actors. Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA student, Madeleine Spivey couldn’t have put it better when she said: “NFTS just played host to an incredibly thoughtful masterclass delivered by the incomparable Bill Nighy. What a legend he is!”
Bill’s incredible, highly acclaimed and much-loved body of work spans theatre, TV and film. Encompassing hard-hitting political drama such as State of Play; zom-rom-com, Shaun Of The Dead; period drama, Glorious 39 and Lone Scherfig’s forthcoming Their Finest; animation, Rango; drama, Notes On A Scandal and The Girl In The Café; comedy-dramas, Hot Fuzz, Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked and family entertainment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; and the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Their Finest is Bill’s next project, a romantic comedy set in World War II, which is due for release in March 2017 and in which he stars with Gemma Arterton and Sam Clafin.
Bill started by encouraging the students to ask him questions ‘you wouldn’t ask anyone else!’ as asking if you don’t know the answer is always the best policy. He quoted director Roger Michell’s advice: “If you don’t know something, don’t blag it – ask!”
A clear theme throughout the masterclass was how important it is for directors and producers to ‘create an environment where everyone gets looked after properly’ on-set as making movies is a ‘collaborative affair’. Bill advised all directors to direct a play if they get a chance as you get to ‘minutely examine the relationship with actors on the stage’. Bill also likes it when directors are clear and practical with their direction and gave an example of filming with Stephen Poliakoff who told Bill after a particular scene: ‘That was marvellous. Next time, don't wiggle your eyes about so much’, which is the kind of direction Bill likes because‘I know how to not make my eyes wiggle about!’
Bill was asked if he changes his approach to acting depending on whether it’s big budget or a small indie film. He replied by saying ‘no, not really’. The only difference is that on a smaller movie, it’s tighter and you have less time to deliver a shot whereas on a big budget movie you can find yourself in fairly daunting situations which affect you to start with but you could be anywhere after a few days. He used the Pirates of the Caribbean as an example as he had to wear ‘computer pyjamas’ and the sets were huge scale, even including a special boat to create movie rain and light rigs that make the rain look ‘groovy!’
The importance of rehearsal time was another theme that Bill tackled as rehearsals don’t happen very often on movie sets and ‘when it does, it’s a dream’. He advocates ‘getting up and rehearsing the scene to the max so you can then achieve spontaneity.’ If there’s no rehearsal time and it’s a comedy movie, then Bill advised that the rehearsal or first take should be shot as that is usually the most funny. Whereas if you do get a chance to rehearse as you do in the theatre, then you’ll be fine as ‘everything is better when rehearsed. Rehearsal isn’t the enemy of art, humour and spontaneity!’
Another student was curious as to what gives Bill inspiration for his accents. Bill told the audience he decided to go with a Scottish accent for his character, Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean after being given the note that the character should sound ‘wet!’ He avoided West Country as he ‘wanted to be different!’ To get the accent right, Bill finds people with the accent and gets them to read bits of the script which he records on his phone.
When asked about Love Actually, Bill said it had had a profound effect on his life as it meant he never had to audition again, which was a ‘most unexpected and beautiful thing to happen!’ And on what happens when he hears the ‘Love is All Around’, the song his character adapted in Love Actually to ‘Christmas is All Around’, Bill said ‘I feel good! It’s a sign of affection.’
At the end of the event, Production Design MA student, Adriane Hervas presented Bill with a cake she had made, which was inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean and featured a pirate ship and a squid! Adriane had met Bill previously when she was working in a cake shop and she had told him how much she liked baking. Bill said the cake looked ‘very exciting’ and that he would take it to his daughter’s for dinner.
If you are inspired to join us at the NFTS, we have a number of courses that are still available to apply for to start in January 2017 ranging from an MA in Film Studies, Programming and Curation to an MA in Marketing, Distribution, Sales and Exhibition; and a Digital Effects MA. We also have a range of very exciting short courses from Directing the Documentary to Writing the Pilot and Craft Editing.
