I cannot use enough kind adjectives to fully describe my experience of the charming Bill Nighy.
We met at the Connaught, in a windowless room with nothing but a mirror, a painting and a load of doors leading to I have no idea where. It was more of a swanky corridor than a room, but grand nonetheless.
Although the room left a little to be desired prop wise, Bill’s charisma more than made up for it with his stylish attire and catalogue of super cool expressions. He was generous with his posing but also philanthropic with his time which meant we got to have a relaxed 90 minutes together rather than the usual 20 I am often lucky to get when celebrities are going through the press circuit.
He was full of fascinating stories yet his humble delivery masked the fact that he is indeed a famous film star, which meant I felt completely comfortable nattering away and showing him some of my newly accrued Beyonce dance moves whilst we worked.
My favourite memory from the experience was upon his entry into the room as he walked straight over and stood next to me talking away without pretension or impatience to get it all started and over with. A real gent.
The shoot was for the cover feature of this weeks Big Issue so it’s a worthy cause and a good read!

(Under no circumstances is it permissable to lift images from this post. All images copyright Louise Haywood-Schiefer 2014)