©1999 All rights reserved Offer Text get 26 issues of Rolling Stone for $15.97 that's 78% off the cover price ($73.90). You save $57.93! Magazine Description Rolling Stone is the granddaddy of rock and roll magazines. It serves up the latest news in popular culture, music, celebrities, and politics. Each jam-packed issue includes music, film, and book reviews. With an unabashed eye, the magazine's writers go backstage and report on what's hot and up-and-coming in the music industry. With its musical savvy and humorous tone, Rolling Stone will amuse and edify you.
Pamela's Film and Entertainment Site
Rolling Stone
"Bill will be along in a moment," Jimmy Nail announces as he takes his seat in the conference room of New York's Sony building. "He's just signing autographs."
Nail and Bill Nighy, the Bill in question, are in town to promote Still Crazy, a charming variation on This is Spinal Tap that is nominated for two Golden Globe awards, including Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). As two aging rockers who are in the midst of staging a comeback after 20 years out of the limelight, Nail and Nighy achieve moments of greatness playing characters that tend to be little more than cardboard cutouts.
"I wanted to be in a band. I really, desperately did but I just didn't have the guts," Nighy confides. Instead he embarked on a highly acclaimed London stage career (appearing in plays such as David Hare's Skylight and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia that has also been marked by a successful television career (BBC's The Men's Room) and the occasional film appearance (Fairy Tale: A True Story). Nail, meanwhile, is a rock 'n roller, touring the UK with his eponymous band. Best known in England for his various hit TV shows such as Auf Weidersehen, Pet (created by Still Crazy scribes Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais), Spender and Crocodile Shoes -- both of which Nail created, produced and starred in -- Nail is recognizable to American audiences for his sizable supporting turn opposite Madonna in Evita.
Nail and Nighy. Nighy and Nail. Soon to be household names.
READING THE SCRIPT JIMMY NAIL (JN): Actors are always attracted to the project on the strength of the script. Pretty much as soon as you read it, you kind of know whether there's something exciting there. If it makes you laugh, it's always good. Dick and Ian have a fantastic record in comedy and drama but, also, they've been down this road before -- they wrote The Commitments script. So they've kind of touched on this kind of topic. But I like the idea -- it's a dream gig. You get offered a part in a movie that has a good, strong script and you have to strap a guitar around and have arguments with the lead singer. (smiles over at Nighy) It was kind of like my day job. (laughs) But it was a very attractive ensemble piece and the other actors involved really -- I said half-jokingly to a few people that I signed on for acting lessons. But only half-jokingly because just to be around the guys and watching people work. . . Bill, in particular. I have to say Bill's performance alone is worth the price of admission. (looks at Nighy) It's fantastic what you do. But just to be around all the guys and the interplay between the cast -- it was just a real blast. It was a lot of fun.
BILL NIGHY (BN): Terrific, absolutely terrific. No bullshit. Completely delighted to read it. Big fan of Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement's work. In England, they have, without question, the greatest track record in high-quality comedy writing. So it wasn't a big surprise that the script was so rich.
PLAYING LES AND RAY JN: I think also we're so familiar with these stories of rock and roll excess and infantile behavior. We're all so aware of it that it kind of has an effect on you anyway. You bring a little bit of that to [the film] almost by osmosis. We all live with rock and roll music, it's part of everybody's life so it has an effect. (turns to Nighy) I don't know about you but I didn't particularly. . .I wanted my character to be a real, miserable bastard up there. I wanted him to be one of these miserable bass players who stood at the back and monosyllabic, very stoic and rock solid but quiet and determined. The character feels that he's the keeper of the band's flame. He's the conscience of the band.
PAMELA'S FILM AND ENTERTAINMENT SITE(PV): Was it intimidating for you to take on the role of Ray? Of all the characters, he's the most flamboyant in presentation and you, of all the actors, stood to make the greatest fool of yourself.
BN: (smiles) I was extremely aware of the lemon potential involving this role. Mind you, I always think that of every character. I was seriously, fundamentally daunted at the prospect of playing this part. But that's traditionally how I am but this one particularly. I was not convinced on a daily basis that I could play this part. But I was surrounded by people who were extremely supportive. The director, Brian Gibson, believed in me. He used to laugh at my jokes when I did the interview. The rest of you would sit around looking at me strangely but he thought it was really, really funny. So that helps. As I saw it, I had two things to achieve: one was to present the character and the other was to front a rock and roll band and to sing, so therefore I had double duty.
PV: What was the key to playing Ray?
BN: Umm. . .
JN: Terror?
BN: (smiles) Thank you, James. James has got it on the button: panic. Yeah. The key to playing him was to try and -- you know, I get kind of nervous when actors talk about acting, you just go all psychology and pseudo-bullshit. I think the idea was to be honest and the script, you see, supplies everything you need. If you read the script and the quality, such as this, you find as an actor that you're helped immeasurably because the scenes are complete, they are entire, they're true, and you just have to achieve what it says there on the page. If you follow the directions and try to be as honest as possible without putting any spin on it to get effect and flashy stuff. . .if you just try and play it honest and tell the story, then there's a map there in the script which you don't always get. Sometimes there's arbitrary plotting in certain scripts, they throw something in because it's what the movie needs right now. This is not one of those scripts. So you, as an actor, don't have to provide something that isn't there.
BN: For me, the script supported everything, it gave you everything. It's not like you needed outside references.
