Source:Edward Douglas

July 13, 2009

ComingSoon.net just got off the phone with the always-pleasant Mr. Bill Nighy, talking to him about his role as Leonard Saber in Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer's upcoming 3D guinea pig action-adventure G-Force.

A couple of weeks ago, it was announced Nighy would be appearing as Rufus Scrimgeour in the two-part Harry Potter finale Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Having just met and talked with director David Yates (who directed Nighy in "The Girl in the Café" and "State of Play") about bringing his friend and long-time collaborator onto the "Potter" series--that interview went up today in case you missed it--we thought it would be good to follow-up with Nighy. After all, Nighy had told us for years he'd like to do something in the series, and it seemed almost impossible to imagine he wouldn't get the chance with Yates playing such a large role in bringing the books to the screen.

"I was with him when he got the job a couple of years ago," Nighy told us earlier today, "and I said, 'Oh, well maybe now I won't be the only English actor who's not in Harry Potter' - that was like five years ago. Anyway, I finally made it under the wire. We may have talked about it before, but he's one of the most gifted directors I've ever worked with. He's a quiet genius, David Yates. I'm delighted and very pleased I'm going to be in 'Harry Potter,' but I'm doubly pleased because it's with David."

Nighy will start shooting his part when he gets back to England after his trip to the U.S. to promote G-Force at the end of the month, and as expected, he's appearing in the first half of the movie, but we didn't find out how they were going to introduce the character, being that he was left out of the sixth movie. (Nighy also recently worked with Rupert Grint in the upcoming thriller Hard Target.)

Look for more from our exclusive interview with Mr. Nighy next week before the release of Disney's G-Force on July 24. Our latest interview with him includes some thoughts on plays he's done which he'd love to see brought to the big screen and some of his other upcoming movies, including at least one that will be at this year's Toronto Film Festival!