It would seem obtuse to look back even remotely fondly to Britain during the Second World War, and yet there remains something of a nostalgia for the time period, which Bill Nighy discusses with us as we interview him for his latest production Their Finest.
Commenting on the community spirit of the public at the time, he said, “It’s a great example of how people can combine courage and compassion during dangerous times, and they can focus on that which unifies them rather than that which divides them. We’re always being manipulated to focus on the divisions for political purposes, but its good to see that in a real time of danger people can conduct themselves in such a way.”
Nighy plays Ambrose Hilliard, an eccentric thespian cast in a propaganda picture designed for those striving to get by on home soil while the soldiers are in combat abroad. We speak about this indelible character creation, and whether Nighy has ever met anybody quite like him before. He also discusses the challenges in getting the tone of movie right, and just how helpful producer Stephen Woolley was on this project, who has, what Nighy describes as an ‘encyclopaedic’ knowledge of British cinema from this era.
Watch the full video interview below…
Their Finest is released on April 21st, and you can read our review of the film here.
