Our first sighting was at a little cafe on Chapel Street where we went to walk around and tick a classic Melbourne site off our list*. We had a very nice lunch and about halfway through Kane looks up at me and asks, "Is that Phillip?" Though Bill Nighy** has been in lots of movies (Underworld, Valkyrie, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Love Actually, to name a few), you might only recognize him as "that guy" (or, if you're my mom, not at all). Kane and I, however, know him intimately as Phillip from the greatest movie of all time: Shaun of the Dead. We immediately started quoting necessary lines from the movie and joking about approaching him with some of them.I had dismissed the possibility that it was in fact Phillip by the end of the meal, but, low and behold, it appears that Mr. Nighy is actually present in Melbourne this weekend for an appearance on Rove tonight. This fact leads us to resume our former assumption, with certainty of 100%. He has very odd and distinctive glasses (not pictured here, but shown in his IMDB profile linked above). Shabooya.
Today, we went for a nice brunch at the posh Auction Rooms Cafe in North Melbourne where I sighted JD, one of the top 20 contestants from last season's So You Think You Can Dance Australia. I know, we're pathetic, not only watching this show, but doing so with such dedication as to recognize its contestants on the street. But still, he was on tv. I realize that so was Jerry Springer and Blossom, but I don't care.
And as a follow up, Bill Nighy was very funny on Rove, along with fellow Shaun of the Dead-er Nick Frost. Yeay for Australia where even the lesser stars are bright and shiny.
*We've actually been to Chapel Street once before with Marc and Alana when our friendship was just beginning (ah, those were the days), but we were new to this city and really didn't know where the hell we were at all, so it hardly counts.
**Not to be confused with the great Bill Nye the Science Guy, though their surnames are pronounced the same.
4 comments:
Wow! That's super cool. I have never heard of Bill Nighy but, I looked at his credits and he has been in a LOT of movies. Is that picture on your blog one that you took of him? Did you get to talk to him at all? Well, that's pretty neato. Did you say hi to the dancing guy? I bet he liked being recognized. I went to your Chapel Street link. That looks like an awesome place to play. I'm glad you're having fun there. Play safely. I love you. :)
I did not take that picture, it was kindly supplied by the internet. I don't feel like I have a right to talk to a famous person unless I can remember their name on the spot - and even then I would probably leave them alone. Plus, to be honest, I had decided at the time that the gentleman that we saw looked far too old to be Bill Nighy. As for dance guy, I also did not say hi to him, more because I thought it would be extremely awkward. And I couldn't remember his name at the time either. I'm not great with names, apparently. But that's just me. Thanks for the comment!
Yup. Not at all.
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