Bill Nighy "stole the complete works of Shakespeare" to prepare for his drama school audition

Bill - who was eventually accepted into the drama school - told BBC Radio 4's 'This Cultural Life': "We could have borrowed it like everybody else, but for some reason, we were sort of developing a criminal mentality."

The actor was determined to be accepted into the school because he was desperate to impress the girl.

Bill said: "She could have said astronaut and I would have given it a shot."

The veteran star has actually performed two Shakespeare plays in his professional life, 'The Taming Of The Shrew' and 'King Lear'. But Bill doesn't have "any particular interest" in performing Shakespeare's work.

He reflected: "I just thought, 'I can't go through this anymore because I don't have any particular interest in the delivery of Shakespeare'.

"I understand he's the greatest poet the world has ever known, but the performance of it, I will leave to other people."

Meanwhile, Bill previously admitted that he doesn't always feel connected to his characters.

The actor told The Independent: "If you're in the company of anybody who suggests that an actor has to feel everything that they portray, then you're talking to somebody who's basically an amateur.

"Often it's a way to punish actors. I think drama teachers do it sometimes to control students. To just stand there and say, 'You're not feeling it.' How do you know I'm not feeling it? What am I supposed to be feeling?

"You don't have to have been bereaved in order to act somebody who's bereaved - otherwise, well, how would we proceed? Y'know, acting is acting."