Bill Nighy Talks ‘Arthur Christmas’By Max Evry
November 23, 2011
British character actor Bill Nighy has been endearing himself to international audiences starting with his 2003 role as a rocker in “Love Actually.” Since then he’s popped up in “Shaun of the Dead,” “Valkyrie,” “Harry Potter,” and perhaps most notably as the villainous Davey Jones in the second and third “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
In Aardman Animation’s wonderful new “Arthur Christmas” Nighy voices Grand Santa, a retired old former Santa Claus who gets a chance to prove himself again when he sets off with his grandson Arthur (James McAvoy) to deliver the last present of Christmas before the sun rises.
Blackfilm.com sat with Nighy in New York to discuss the film, his second with Aardman after “Flushed Away.”
You’re part of an animated film. How do you like to see the film for the first time? In bits and pieces when it’s coming together or when it’s all finished?
BILL NIGHY: In this case I waited until it was all finished. I saw it in the best possible circumstances, with a cinema full of kids. Most of the people there were under ten, so I think it was probably a very good idea, although they spoke through some of my greatest bits. No, they were cool. I can honestly say, this is not PR, I knew it was going to be good but I didn’t think it was going to be quite that good. I think it’s really smart and I’m proud to be in it, all that stuff.
This is not your first time at the Aardman rodeo. What makes their films so different from other animated films?
NIGHY: I think they brought a new level of authenticity to the dialogue and therefore to the comedy. The drawings are very specific about the characters, a degree of specificity that was maybe a new-ish thing. I think it’s a whole sensibility and generosity in spirit.
Can you talk about your character?
NIGHY: I thought I was going for Father Christmas, and then they showed me Grand Santa and that was slightly unsettling. He’s 136 and has no teeth, but I love my part. The great thing about animation is it’s like the radio. I used to do lots of radio when I was a kid, and you get to play parts you would never get to play. He’s a colorful and quite rich character. Sarah Smith, the director, and I worked together on it. I had to audition for the part, because for animations they can’t just recklessly give you the role, you may not have the voice up your sleeve, they have to try you out. I was very keen to be in it because it’s Aardman, because the script was so good, and it could possibly be one of those Christmas movies that hangs around. We struggled for quite awhile to get a suitable voice, and I hope we did.
What did you like about him? Grand Santa has a lot of insights and will power.
NIGHY: Yes, he’s very satisfying to play. He’s got some great lines and jokes. He does say al the things no one will dare say so it’s quite refreshing.
Can you talk about doing something like Davey Jones where your performance is driving the animation, as opposed to this where you just hand your voice over to the animators?
NIGHY: It’s odd. With “Pirates” it was an act of faith. Gore Verbinski said, “Whatever you do on the floor will arrive on the screen, and then when I saw the creature at the end I was so moved that the men and women who made it had actually done that. Every single little thing, all the stupid stuff you did, it was there. I don’t know practically speaking what the difference is. In “Arthur” I didn’t act to the drawing all the time. I knew what the drawing was. They did show me drawings for Davey Jones. The tough thing about that was they showed you drawings of the scariest thing on the ocean waves and then they put you in a pair of computer pajamas with white bubbles all over your body. Then they introduce you to Johnny Depp. (laughs)
Is it a surprise to see it when it’s just the animators taking your vocals and running with it?
NIGHY: Yeah, it’s a shock. When I saw Davey Jones I was not prepared for it. I remember the first time they animated anything with my voice and showed it to me. I don’t really like that bit. I don’t like hearing myself or seeing myself too much, certainly not in the middle of it because I don’t have a good opinion of myself, it’s just a tendency that undermines me. I’m not being coy, I have to seriously consider that because it is a drawback. The thing about animation in this case, the other difference, is you go away for four months then comeback and do three days then you go away for four months. You do ten or twelve sessions over two years, and they’re quite intense, it’s quite hard work in its own strange way. The thing is you have no sense memory of the voice, so when they play it for me I have no memory of making that noise, but I thought, “Hey, that’s okay!” It worked with the drawing, it looked like a little old man and he had no teeth.
What’s the best childhood memory you have of Christmas?
NIGHY: I’m not being cute because of the movie, but the Christmas I got a bike was… I can remember it vividly, I can feel it. I can feel it. I was standing at the top of our stairs and there’s a frosted window looking into the yard and I could see the outline of a bike against a wall in the garden. I came over all funny. It was like the biggest thing, it was so big, and that bike stayed with me about ten years. I was 8 or 9 and my dad denied me, I’d wanted one so bad but I wasn’t tall enough.
Your character and Arthur take a crazy trip around the world. What’s the wildest trip you’ve ever taken?
NIGHY: I drove across the Serengeti in a land rover in Tanzania and nothing prepares you for that. It’s immense and extraordinarily beautiful and impressive. I went to the Ngorongoro Crater, which is a huge bowl of lush green and water in which all the major animals, excluding tigers, including lions, giraffes, hyenas, and the weirdest thing I’ve seen in my life is a giraffe. They just move in the stupidest way and yet it’s elegant. They are so extraordinary, makes you believe in things from outer space, but they’re gentle and massive.
“Arthur Christmas” opens on November 23rd.
