Love Actually star Bill Nighy is barely recognisable playing a scruffy and reclusive alcoholic author in his new movie & Sons. Usually clean shaven, with foppish hair and immaculate tailoring, as Andrew Dyer, he sports a Santa Claus beard and wears trackie bottoms or shorts.Bill, 76, says: "I never thought I would be in a major motion picture in shorts. I have never been seen public in shorts. Never since I played rugby at school. The kind of sport luxe green tracksuit bottoms I wear in the film amuse me too. The idea of old people in exercise gear. Most people who wear that stuff are not going to exercise anytime soon."My mum once bought a shell suit when she was like 79 and started walking around as if she was about to go jogging. It just makes me laugh. It’s a good job I never watch anything I am in, as I don't want to watch this one. Bill also admits he never prepares for his roles. Although the actor, who has been sober since 1992 and has openly discussed earlier battles with drink and drugs, was well qualified for the part.‌Based on the novel by David Gibert, the film sees Andrew Dyer trying to explain his way out of an affair to his ex-wife (Imelda Staunton). He claims his 17-year-old lovechild and third son (Noah Jupe) is the result of a wacky human clone experiment. He also reunites with his two estranged sons (George MacKay and Johnny Flynn) over fears he is about to die.In real life, getting older holds more positives than negatives for Bill. He says: "I made a mess of being young. I like my head not being a war zone anymore. Things are far less complicated in my head now.”Another advantage of ageing for Bill, who has a daughter, Mary Nighy, with actress Diana Quick, who he had a 26 year relationship with until 2008, is that success means he’s ditched his washing machine. He says: “I don't have a washing machine. I'm decadent. I send it out.‌“When I was young, I used to be in digs a lot. I was in one particular digs in London where the other residents had a laundry system. They all had these sort of oblong boxes with a leather strap tied around them and their name on the lid. I thought, ‘if I ever make any money, I'm having one of those.’ So now I have one, because I made some money. My laundry comes back sheathed. It's so glamorous to me. I have a deep relationship with the laundry service and with dry cleaning. If it stands still for six seconds, I dry clean it.”Bill, who lives in Pimlico, south west London, also has no cooker. He says: “I have a small grill/oven thing that you might find in a tent. It's never been turned on. In my last apartment, I didn't have an oven at all." He explains that, after moving into a new place, the builders removed the oven, adding: “They said, ‘When's the new one coming?’ I realised in the moment that there was never going to be a new one because who needs it? My daughter was there and she said, ‘Dad, don't be weird’. So I had a hob in order not to be weird, but I never used it.”Wrongly rumoured to be dating his long-term friend, global editorial director of Vogue, Anna Wintour, after they arrived arm-in-arm to the 2023 Met Gala, appearance is one thing that really matters to Bill. And his style icon is late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. Describing his penchant for playing drums wearing a three-piece suit as “radical,” he says: “Charlie had infinite class.”‌Recalling their only meeting on a winter’s day walking down London’s Bond Street, he says: “Somebody said ‘Bill’. I turned around and it was Charlie Watts. The fact that Charlie Watts knew that I was called Bill was kind of thrilling. He leant forward and he took my lapel. I was wearing a reasonable suit."He looked absolutely sensational. He felt my lapel and he said, ‘you're an actor, you're supposed to be skint.’ I said, ‘well, things looked up’. And he said, ‘I'm glad to hear it’. Then he got in the car and drove away.”His love of stylish dressing means some clothing is off-limits to Bill. He says:”I run my wardrobe like a fascist state. I haven't been in swim attire or owned swimming trunks this century, or before that.” Talking about Speedos is also something he avoids He says: “The thought of me in Speedos is apparently unsurvivably funny.”Being style-conscious made his hirsute appearance in & Sons stressful for Bill. He says: "The director Pablo Trapero wanted me to shave my head for the role, but I told my agent I was not going to do that, so I threw him a lifeline and grew a beard, which got out of hand.‌"We finished filming on a Friday at about 10pm and the next morning I was outside Geo. F. Trumper the barbers, by appointment to the Queen, waiting for them to open the doors. They gave me a full shave with the extract of lime tonic, which was gorgeous, and we had a big slap up breakfast around the corner after."Bill, whose credits include Shaun of the Dead, Notes on a Scandal, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, says there were other tough aspects to his latest role. He adds: “It almost killed me. The director Pablo Trapero, his English is pretty good, but it did not include the word ‘cut’."The first take I did, I had to look in the mirror for 27 minutes. Pablo used to say ‘now you scream...now you cry’. There was one point where I lifted a window and ran across the field to get away from him! It was great to have Imelda with me. I have known her all my life. I have been married to her before, we have certainly slept together before as it were [all acting for roles].‌"I was her boyfriend once on television and I lied to get the job. I told her I could play the guitar and I couldn't. I had to feed her Chinese food and recite a serious poem based on All Night Long by Lionel Richie. That is a fond memory. “Bill is full of great memories and is ready to make new ones. Maybe one day, he will even be able to satisfy the many admirers who question him. He says: ”One came up to me in the street and said ‘what is it like when they hand the Oscar to you?’ I said ‘I have never had one’. I should have shut up."* Bill Nighy's new movie, & Sons, is released in cinemas August 21.‌