Martin Freeman Breaks Down His Career, from 'The Hobbit' to 'Black Panther' | Vanity Fair

and I was fund my agent I said did we hear anything about Sherlock by the way he said well ass yes we did they didn't really fill you with that into it so why what do you mean he said well they just felt you hadn't really turned up it's like well can you please let them know I'm really interested I think a script is brilliant sorry they felt that I'd let me you know do it again I can't believe this you don't accept any responsibility whatsoever for your brother's death do you if you're so good at asking questions ask Martin you'll get more out of him than me can I go yet every actor that came out of drama school was either on the bill or casualty or both and it was kind of like it was a it was extended drama school for people it was my first time in front of a camera and I think it probably shows I had that slight deer-in-the-headlights thing I think a little bit yes playing a small-time crook I used to go up for a lot of small-time crooks before I became lovable boy next door I think he is that play that's the playing go out for weirdos scumbags but I've been out of drama school for one year at that time I filmed it in 1996 and I'd come at drama school in 1995 and I was in the midst of doing a lot of theater and going up for the occasional bit of TV just like control the body missile morale yeah I met Ricky Gervais on a sketch show called bruiser for the BBC that he wrote for it was six of us containing some fantastic British comedy talent who have gone on to much bigger and better things including Olivia Colman so I did a lot of sketches with Olivia Colman and even then she was very good I was then called in to do this audition for the office I first auditioned for Gareth Keenan who was then played by Mackenzie Crook afterwards but I read for Gareth and then I was on the way out and in the Steve merchant or a Chautala the producer said ash I think we should get Martin to read for Tim I was okay because I've read the whole script I thought the script was really really good so I came back rent for Tim and there was a bit of a part that might work better so I thought yeah thank God that stopped me from leaving the room I probably wouldn't have got Gareth because Mackenzie is much better casting as Gareth you know Ricky and Steve let me have a couple of I guess I guess a couple of episodes before rough cuts of episodes I'm showing it to a couple of people who I care Wow and they were impressed obviously it's not the first mock documentary thing ever of course it's not but it was I think one of the best executed of that kind and certainly in 2001 before had come out it was there wasn't really anything like that on television at the time at all and again you know spinal tap is still the best but but we were in their shadow and trying to obey the things that they had learned and done well I was very excited by it as my first film as my first movie and allergy had a kind of a television life in the UK and it was very popular on channel 4 and everyone used to talk about this character it was amazing and who's this guy apparently he's some guy went to Cambridge really like so a little bit more kind of was leaking out about who Sasha Baron Cohen was I just finished shooting the office and then I was doing Ali G and it was very exciting I felt vaguely successful paid with and I was the yella so I played Ricky see Ali G's best mate it was ludicrous very silly there was a tiny bit of improv but there were improved moments definitely the improv moment in the scene that ended up in as a scene in the film where cut wasn't called and me and Sasha just did a lot of rapping and beatboxing in a car to be fair a good scene can I get co-writing credit did I did I know I finally enjoyed it Sasha and Dan Mazer who was like his co-creator I suppose and his sort of spirit animal were you know really funny blokes and clever guys I liked them a lot probably the worst costume I've ever had yeah lurid some would say very very lurid colors I wasn't gonna win any best-dressed awards for that could you pick the top off this time like any camera need to no one actually gonna see them the nipples and when we're not yes okay it's nice and warming always the case you're standing in for Brad Pitt once on it seven years in Tibet yes yes yeah bloody freezing yes sorry guys times pretty tight and we have to get you actors in I got attached The Love Actually because on the back of the office Richard Curtis wrote me a very nice and flattering letter that contained a piece of chocolate in it light was wrapped it wasn't he wasn't just dropped it it was like a wrapped chocolate I presented to me saying I love the office I love what you did in the office it was amazing that's such a I just realized how conceited that sounded I'm just telling you how much Richard Curtis loved me once roms just I'm just passing on facts you know he wink he's very good at writing people flattering letters when he's a fan of someone and he was a big fan of that show he's big fan of the office so he wanted me to come along and play and so he did a table read for love actually with a lot of people who didn't end up being in it just some good comedy people later on down the line it was cast properly and unfortunately I was still in the cast I went up to read for Arthur Dent for Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy on a houseboat in London that was the business of belong to the business of Nick Goldsmith the producer and Garth Jennings the director and and I had a fantastic time with these two talking about the film they showed me some of the designs I think I read a bit as Arthur but what I was really thinking about was the fact that my missus at the time was waiting for me in a car and so I was feeling guilty that I should I should go because Amanda's parked and I didn't want to I didn't want her to be too bored or whatever you know so I was kind of okay yeah it's all very well yeah you want me to be the leading to feel great but I've really got to go so yeah I think that's one of the things that saves me or save me and I'm quite good at thinking about something else so not thinking about Arthur Dent it's a really sought after and I was hearing names in the ether about you know who was being considered for our third then you know and some of them were Hollywood stars which I certainly was not so I wasn't thinking ah this is this is a big thing I was thinking are we gonna get home in time for dinner yeah a Sam Rockwell Zooey Deschanel and mos def as he was oh it was good fun it was really really good fun everyone looked really cool apart from me I had a great so housecoat like a big green toweling Terry towelling robe pajamas and old man slippers most looked amazing Zoe looked great Sam just looked like Elvis Presley and James Brown like and I and there was me so sometimes I've got a bit of an inferiority complex about that I'm your best man yeah of course you are of course you're my best friend I knew as soon as I started reading it that this was unlike anything that I was seeing on television at that time Bane Cumberbatch was on board as Sherlock and I thought that was a very very smart move because what I had seen him in he was brilliant I went up for it twice I went up first time and apparently I learned I'd been a bit of an idiot I don't I can't member what it was a bit my slip to the place and I think by the time I got there I'm quite easily grumpy and I think I accidentally sort of let that show and so a couple of weeks later I was you know I actually I said did we hear anything about Sherlock by the way he said well ass yes we did they didn't really fill you with that into it why what do you mean he said well they just felt you you hadn't really turned up it's like well can you please let them know I'm really interested I think the script is brilliant so I went back again and read with Ben and as soon as we started reading yam is clear that we had a chemistry and the room sort of crackled a bit you could feel it the material elevated that's what you always try and do whatever department you're in I've always never really tried to make any big delineation between television and theatre and fit was like well if I like the writing I'll do the writing you know cuz I will go anywhere for good writing I haven't got Tom Cruise's film career it wasn't it wasn't like I'm only gonna do massive leads in massive feels like well that wasn't what was happening anyway I think I've always dodged around a bit between the media no I don't imagine anyone west of Bree would have much interest in adventures nasty disturbing uncomfortable things you're late for dinner [Music] good morning I remember going with half of Britain I went on tape for it right and when I when I arrived in the casting room to go on tape rather like this there was a note from Guillermo del Toro who at the time was slated to direct and the note was very nice it said look Martin we want this to be you something do your stuff but just so you know we think this is gonna be you know rather summate how fantastic so that relaxed me a lot you know so I was able to do my reading and then sort of forget about it we would filming sure we were filming the first series of Sherlock so I sort of had that on my mind Guillermo left the project as director but hit again he reached out said just so you know it's not gonna be me but you are still the person we want in the frame you're gonna hear lots of different names again big Hollywood stars the artistic team want this to be used that's a massive vote of confidence as if as it went on because I had to do say series two of Sherlock I couldn't do Bilbo I couldn't do it the BBC weren't playing ball no one was interested on the Sherlock or the BBC side of okay let me just see how this can work out I distinct I was outside the National Theatre in London I was about to go and see a play and I said to my agent Michael I have to let this go on I and he said I'm really sorry I think you are because that we are contracted to do Sherlock and then I was rehearsing a play and I got a call from Michael saying there's been a change of plan Peter Jackson has rearranged the schedule of The Hobbit around you so that you can start the Hobbit then go off and do Sherlock and then finish the Hobbit again that was quite a phone call that was an amazing amazing thing to hear because talk about a vote of confidence he could have had a lot of people doing Bilbo Baggins and the fact that he had that much faith in me was astonishing really and the fact that he can move a schedule as Titanic as that is gonna be in a production like that which does not move quickly was kind of amazing and I felt like an extremely lucky person and I'll always love Peter for that I've always said quite a black-and-white feeling about no it's over now it's over once you've made the thing it's everything is supposed to end and thank God we recorded it we pressed record but the last dad did get emotional because a couple of people approached me and as soon as their voice started to break god yeah this has been the last two and a half years of my life with breaks but that's a huge chunk of anyone's life and the old cliche it's we were sort of a family you know as you as you are when you're together for any length of time I worked my wife she said oh I think she's in the basement in here I don't know what to do Lester has been a bad boy he's yeah the hammer in the look can you come over hi my I'm on Willow Creek Drive number 613 right there thank you I was shooting series three of Sherlock I was in a hotel in Wales and my agent at the time said oh we've got this American TV show so I was like hang on told yours and we've agreed I'd love it you know because at that time is signing on for seven years and all that I'm just never I'm never gonna do that I'm a dad I'm never gonna do it so said yes but this is there's no signing over seven years it's ten episodes it's a TV version of Fargo I'm sending you the pilot and I read the pilot there's a scene between my character and Billy Bob Thornton's character in an ER so compelling so beautifully written this kind of weird Svengali type guy reeling me in and disturbing me and I can immediately see how it would work and of course I was in you let a man beat you and for his children just send them a message no it's not just in my experience if you let a man break your nose then next time he tries to break your spine Sant no way mm-hmm I mean I don't think the other thing was because a park is the physical thing of the accent the technical thing of it the Minnesotan accent I'm wanting to reward their trust in me actually you know I got along very very well with Billy Bob Thornton I would hesitate say in any way that I made him better but he certainly made me better because he is very settled were a very calm presence on set we got on straight away I play a game on almost every set if you're sitting around more than 10 minutes I say okay let's name bands and singers beginning with a letter than the last one ending in so if I say the Beatles then you say Siouxsie and the Banshees s okay Sex Pistols a lot of essays actually but so yeah we just did that for ages he's a very underwhelmed man you know he's not kind of flighty presence and I and I liked that so how does it feel spend all that time all that effort so spectacularly they did well I became part of the Marvel Universe at the behest of Kevin Feige saying he you know they were interested in me playing this part and that was at the end of 2014 I was filming in Malta I don't think I'm imagining his I had a long conversation on the phone with Kevin Feige I think very gracious and generous and he wanted me to play this part and the idea was three films that was the idea within that I didn't really know any detail whatsoever less than a year later I was in both the States and Berlin doing my fairly small bit on civil war but introducing this part of Everett Ross among a load of superheroes he was kind of funny it was funny I [Music] [Music] think it was maybe in my first out-and-out horror I guess the email that came with the script they referenced the film sleuth was an early 70s film starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine which for years as a kid was my favorite films absolutely my favorite film and there's a part in it where Michael Caine's character disguises himself as somebody else and then reveals which I always loved and the first time you see that film it's a delight inspector becomes inspector if you see so there's an echo of that in ghost stories as well as many other things but they sort of had me at sleuth Rinna's like well if you're pulling on that and bits let's go I was filming on that job for two weeks and without question without question it was one of the happiest two weeks of my working life very odd Trump was elected during it right it was so it was so strange it was so odd who's like the very very surreal thing of coming onto set people looking at each other going Oscar what's going on what's going and sent and then we had to make a a film that was sort of slightly less bizarre than something that just happened in real life it was here system rebooting in five [Music] yes we did it great the first time I met Ryan he came into the room and gave me a hug and I thought I will be alright here you know I like huggers he was just he's a very sweet man in many ways I'm sorry you know I'm slightly outside I wasn't one of the cool guys I like whenever it Rose is a cool character but he's he's outside of the world you know me so he's outside of the main core of the story I suppose everyone everyone was cool and it was Bill gone it's like any other film I remember at the time people going what was it like being like the only ones like it was like making a film those people working very long hours trying to get a film made it was exactly like that but the ratios were different I mean the ratios are sort of reversed but it's a funny one with Everett because he has he has real status in his job and then he's put in a world where he has very little status and he's completely bamboozled by what he's discovering about this hidden country it was good I liked it I liked it lantern loads of dogs I read it I've walked around it learnt a lot it's a good place very easy to put on weight in Atlanta jaysus southern fried portions my god yes American portions generally like who else is coming the most do you think is arriving I can start back as soon as possible and you're actually going to what else am I gonna do I'm a police officer I know and I'm being good at it as directed by mine called Paul Andrew Williams written by Michael Jeff Pope who's one of our finest drama writers in the UK I play a real-life cop there was a case some years ago now in the southwest of England there was a double murder up this cop was able to expose the fact that this man confessed to two murders but because not every single T had been crossed and I had been dotted by the book this cops career has sort of hit freefall and now can't get a job in England the style of it again was is about as real and the the sort of the style of acting that I really loved was no acting though bring any acting to it because the story itself is dramatic enough and the events themselves are amazing enough without you emotive them all without you telling the audience what to think with your performance I like exercises in stripping away everything I like working in that sort of area where the audience has to kind of keep up I suppose big acting is great sometimes but for the purpose of this the way it's shot shot in an almost docq style everything was hand held you almost miss little bits of it you know mean like what did he say you know pulling hair is wrong like I mean all violence is wrong but you know these punches are sport yes boxing boxing's in the Olympics hair-pulling isn't I had a dream one night but I dreamt the first scene of the first episode and I said to my partner at the time Amanda I said I've had this dream and described it to us and I think there might be someone there's a show in that somewhere I think and she said yeah I think there is you should talk to someone about that and she didn't mean a therapist she met a TV executive I was put together with Chris Addison as a potential director and then we got together with Simon Blackwell as a potential writer and between us we kind of worked up this what the show was gonna be tonally stories wise development meetings were basically like parental therapy groups where you would admit to all the worst things you've ever done as a father and all the things that made you least proud of your own behavior with a lot of laughter as you know when you're admitting things that you don't readily admit to it's sort of outrageous and reassuring that it's not just you you know I think you see a sign of parenting that everyone I think needs to talk about I really do believe that everyone needs to talk about the difficulty of it and the chaos of it as well as the joy and the absolute love of it you know that's the easy bedroom the easy like loving your kids is the easy bit wanting to die for your kids and kill for your that's the easy bit the hard bit is when you realize that you are sometimes completely incapable of doing the job well that's the hard bit because it doesn't make you feel great about yourself sounds hilarious doesn't it I've got to see that show

Channel: Vanity Fair

Views: 1,753,880

Rating: 4.9701972 out of 5

Keywords: martin freeman, career timeline, martin freeman career, vanity fair, vanity fair career timeline, martin freeman interview, martin freeman career timeline, martin freeman movies, martin freeman hobbit, martin freeman breeders, bilbo baggins, martin freeman bilbo baggins, bilbo, the hobbit, martin freeman uk, hobbit, martin freeman sherlock, martin freeman fargo, martin freeman black panther, the office uk, martin freeman ali g, martin freeman love actually

Id: BpnF1HCQ0Zo

Length: 21min 32sec (1292 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 06 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/unsuba]

The portion specific to Sherlock starts at 7:26, but as a big fan of Martin and his other work, I found the whole video very enjoyable!

[u/Kiel297]

That was a really good interview I won’t lie. He’s had a great career

[u/DontWantToSeeYourCat]

Huh. TIL Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington split up in 2016 which would've been during the filming of series 4.

Awkward.

[u/[deleted]]

I just need a season 5 hinting 😭