The Australian: Second billing brings actor to the fore

The Australian has a nice interview with Bill Nighy about Notes on a Scandal, and acting in general.

Nighy is a joker, and relentlessly self-deprecating. What he does as an actor is not rocket science, he says.

“It is really only pretending, like you did when you were a kid,” he says. “You don’t go into an altered state. I’m working. I’m too busy to be in an altered state. I don’t know what drama teachers mean, or lesser directors mean, when they start talking about recreating the emotional state of the character. The character doesn’t exist: there’s only me, and I’ve never been in a trance.

Read the article here.