Bill Nighy has revealed the reason why he was carrying a little toy bunny on the Oscars red carpet.
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The actor made a point of directing photographers’ attention to the rabbit while he was at the event on Sunday (12 March). The tiny rabbit toy generated a flurry of questions both from the public watching and, indeed, the press pack at the event.
Nighy, who was nominated in the Best Actor category for his role in Living, has now revealed that the tiny bunny is in fact his granddaughter’s beloved toy. Citing why he was snapped alongside the plush bunny, Nighy said he’d been “charged” with the responsibility by his granddaughter.
“My granddaughter’s schedule intensified and I was charged with rabbit-sitting responsibilities,” Nighy said in a statement to Metro.co.uk.
“I wasn’t prepared to leave her unattended in a hotel room. The stakes are too high. Where I go, she goes…”
The Love Actually star is believed to have been holding a member of the Babblebrook family, which according to The Guardian, is “a design classic that was included in the original Sylvanian Families launch in the mid-1980s but is now unavailable”.
Sylvanian Families was created by a Japanese gaming company in the ’80s. The toy became wildly popular in the early ’90s.
The Oscars 2023 ceremony took place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre and was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Everything Everywhere All At Once was the big winner of the night, collecting seven awards.
Among the film’s haul were Best Picture, Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Directing, Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis). Meanwhile, Brendan Frasier pipped Nighy to the Best Actor gong for his role in The Whale.