Bill Nighy has said holding a “slippery baby” when filming a Caesarean section scene for his new film Joy was a “very edgy day”.
Based on a true story, the drama follows three pioneering British scientists in the 1960s and 1970s and their struggle to develop IVF.
Nighy, 74, plays Patrick Steptoe, the obstetrician and gynaecologist who helped develop in vitro fertilisation (IVF) alongside nurse Jean Purdy and physiologist Sir Robert Edwards.
James Norton, Thomasin McKenzie and Bill Nighy at the BFI London Film Festival gala screening of Joy (Ian West/PA)
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, the Love Actually star recalled filming the scene when he delivers the world’s first IVF baby, Louise Joy Brown, via Caesarean.
He joked: “It’s not that complicated, it’s a couple of incisions and it’s a lot of muscle, and you’re out. I could probably pull it off.”
The Oscar-nominated actor added: “It was a very edgy day because it’s a long while since I’ve held a slippery baby and they had to smear whatever it was over the child and there were lots and lots of takes, it was a very hard floor. I had wet gloves.”
Directed by Ben Taylor, the film also stars Happy Valley actor James Norton as Sir Robert and The Power Of The Dog’s Thomasin McKenzie as Ms Purdy.
Nighy said Taylor, producer Amanda Posey, and writer Jack Thorne all have IVF children which he found to be encouraging rather than added pressure.
The film also revealed to him the impact of IVF for those close to him, saying: “It’s like anything, when you get involved in something that you don’t particularly know about, then in this case, I then discover that a large percentage of the people I know have been touched by IVF, either directly or indirectly, because it’s been so successful.”
Nighy, who is known for starring in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually and in the Pirates Of The Caribbean film series, said working on Joy was “one of the best jobs” he has ever had.
He added: “It’s such a big story, about which I knew very little until I got the gig.
“It’s quite extraordinary these three people, two scientists and Patrick Steptoe, the surgeon who I play, persisted for 10 years and they failed and they failed and they failed and the newspapers called them ‘Doctor Frankenstein’, and the church came out against them, and people didn’t talk to them, they got no support, or funding from anywhere.
“Yet they continued. And Louise Brown was born, probably 47 years ago, and they were then hailed as medical pioneers and the church retired their criticism and now, it is estimated, 16 million women who have children who would not have had children had they not persisted.”
Joy is available on Netflix from Friday.