As his new film & Sons hits the screen, the actor turned podcast agony uncle relives his \u2018cliched\u2019 ambitions, deplores working lunches \u2013 and yearns to do the splits like Prince<\/p>\n
A dying patriarch summons his brood for a dramatic announcement. It may not be the most original starting point for a movie, but & Sons adds an eccentric twist \u2013 one that it would be unfair to reveal here but which nudges the material into the realm of science fiction. The father in question is a revered novelist who is as reclusive as JD Salinger and as whiskery and dishevelled as Catweazle. Dormant for decades, the fictional AN Dyer is first glimpsed in a horizontal position on the sofa, refusing to come to the telephone: \u201cI don\u2019t do phonecalls,\u201d he grumbles.<\/p>\n
That is patently not true of the actor who plays him. \u201cI spend a lot of time on the phone,\u201d Bill Nighy says breezily. He is speaking to me from north-west London, where he has been nosing around bookshops. \u201cI\u2019m also an enthusiastic texter. I was always very quick on the old Nokia. Quite proud of myself, I was.\u201d Where does he stand on emojis? \u201cI used to be philosophically opposed. Most of them are a bit naff.\u201d He then proceeds to list the exceptions. \u201cI like the flamingo and the purple dahlia. I like the leaping shark. Sometimes I combine it with the leaping dolphin. Very occasionally, I like the golfer in mid-swing if I\u2019m congratulating someone. I don\u2019t do smiley faces.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/794fe91d48d3a4fb2df62857eed5d5c7340e70e5\/0_359_4017_3214\/master\/4017.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=72815f8413a2ed6af69f76a52eccd3d6\" "\\"\u2018I")
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