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Bill Nighy Uses Scrabble To Reconnect With His Son In ‘Triple Word Score,’ Reveals The Closest He’s Come To Being In The Army

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:27 PST, Sep 16, 2016

Bill Nighy, the English character actor, will play a lead role in Triple Word Score, an upcoming comedy-drama that has elements of the supernatural, according to Screen Daily.

The veteran actor plays the role of a distressed father who is searching for his missing son with whom he has always enjoyed playing the game of Scrabble. The movie narrates the efforts of Bill Nighy’s character, who wants nothing more than to reconnect with his son by using his expertise in the word game.

Even though the actor has enjoyed a film career spanning more than three decades, he still enjoys connecting with his roots in theater and television. After obtaining training from the Guilford School of Acting, Bill Nighy made his stage debut by featuring in Illuminatus!, staged at London’s National Theatre in 1977. Later, he had several opportunities to feature in radio and television dramas, the most popular being BBC’s The Men’s Room. What’s On Stage reports that, most recently, Bill Nighy featured in Stuff Happens, David Hare’s play that explores the question of whether the Iraq War was justifiable.

The play was originally performed at the National Theatre in September of 2004, and it was later revived numerous times, with the most recent revival taking place on July 6, 2016. The latest revival was timed to mark the occasion when the British Government was presented with the Chilcot Report, a public inquiry report that was prepared by Sir John Chilcot to assess Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war. The revival took place as a “script in hand” reading, with Bill Nighy playing the role of the narrator.

Apart from his memorable roles in theater and movies, Bill Nighy has also gained popularity by displaying his versatile skills in several television series. In fact, the Love Actually actor featured as Slartibartfast in both the radio and film versions of the science fiction series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Having entertained generations of audiences during his three-decade long career, Bill Nighy has left an indelible impression by playing some of the unique characters in the film world, including Davy Jones, Rufus Scrimgeour, and Viktor in Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, and Underworld franchises, respectively.

Besides often playing eccentric characters, Bill Nighy became particularly famous by portraying Nazi characters in film dramas that were based on World War II, including the role of General Friedrich Olbricht in Valkyrie in addition to SS Colonel Helmut Hoffmann in Hitler’s SS: Portrait in Evil. Recently, the actor was again featured as a World War II Army soldier in a movie that is set in 1944, yet in a different kind of role to his previous wartime characters. This time, Bill Nighy was cast in the role of Sergeant Wilson of Britain’s Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon in Dad’s Army, the 2016 war-comedy movie based on the famous BBC sitcom of the same name.

The story focuses on the events that take place after a female journalist visits the platoon amidst rumors that a German spy has infiltrated the military unit. Bill Nigh’s Sergeant Wilson finds himself under suspicion but is soon relieved to find out that the female journalist herself turns out to be a spy. The female reporter, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, is shown to be a charming character with the ability to cast a spell on senior military officers, especially Bill Nighy’s character.

Apart from revealing that he found Zeta-Jones a pleasure to work with, Bill Nighy also expressed his admiration for the soldiers who fought on the battlefield in heavy duty gear and shoes. According to Screen Daily, Bill Nighy spoke about the discomfort he faced while filming in the army attire.

“It was as near as I’ll get to ever being in the army – the uniform kills you, it was bad for my skin, I’ve got sensitive skin! And the boots – you can’t walk in the boots! And people used to get up and fight in this stuff.”

[Featured Image by Evan Agostini/AP Images]

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