Bill Nighy

“When I do a play, it's like agreeing to be ill for a couple of months.”

“I don't do plays without jokes anymore. I've retired from those plays. I think it's bad manners to invite people to sit in the dark for two and a half hours and not tell them the joke.”

“There are only three men in the world who are licensed to wear shorts: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise.”

“The way the elderly are treated, and in some cases warehoused and medicated, rather than nurtured and listened to, is distressing.”

“I've never been a great enthusiast about how I look and I am very... when I was young I had a real anti-talent for inventing myself as unappealing - craven and unremarkable.”

“One of the things that is assumed about actors is that they are extrovert, which is almost never the case, in my experience.”

“I was never a hippy, per se.”

“One of my great regrets, and I don't have many, is that I spent too long putting people's status and reputation ahead of their more important qualities. I learned far too late in life that a...”

“I guess part of the hit-man appeal is the solitude. Everybody is lured to the idea of the solitary life.”

“The degree of notoriety I have is fine and easy. There's nothing hysterical about it.”

“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 ordinarily.”

“It can't be overstated how wonderful it is not to have to audition any more. Any actor will tell you, it's like Christmas.”

“Hunger is almost like something the West does. It's almost like the direct result of the way the West performs.”

“I'm not a financial expert. The Robin Hood tax seems to me a very simple and beautiful idea. I don't see the problem.”

“I have nothing against romanticism. I'm all for it. I'm helpless in the face of romance.”

“I have a perfectly average skewed perception of myself. We often don't know what we're like.”

“Anyone who can do the splits and come back up on the backbeat, as James Brown and Prince can, has my eternal respect. Prince, who is a genius of the highest order, can come back up while sin...”

“I've worked with Len Wiseman before, on the 'Underworld' series, in which I was a vampire. The first two of those were his first two films. And I admire him beyond measure. I think he's trem...”

“Emma Watson is adorable in the extreme. She is such a lovely person.”

“When it comes to casual clothing, my enthusiasm for clothes starts to waver.”