The Unexpected Adventures of Martin Freeman (20 page)

Speaking to the
Radio Times
’s Susanna Lazarus about working with Freeman, Richard Armitage enthused, ‘He was just very good at being a little ninja Bilbo. Behind the scenes he’d have a little crack at everybody who was a bit bigger than him but he’d try his kung fu ninja moves on everybody which always made me laugh.’

Not only was there a heavy promotional campaign but also a great deal of
Hobbit
-related merchandise, from action figures to posters and all manner of collectibles.
ShortList.com
spoke to Freeman about the
Hobbit
-branded bath and shower gel, to which the actor responded, ‘Well, I haven’t seen that… I occasionally get sent things, I occasionally get sent a new batch of… whatever… I think the majority of the stuff that happens in
The Hobbit
merchandise wise I honestly never see and I’m not really aware of that’s the truth. I hear about stuff… I know the figures and I know books…’

The film premiered in Los Angeles on 2 December 2013 and was released around the world on 13 December. It grossed $953 million worldwide, surpassing the box-office takings of
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
and
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
. It became the fourth-highest grossing film of 2013 and the twenty-fourth-highest grossing film ever. The reviews of the second
Hobbit
film were far more positive than those of
An Unexpected Journey
.

The
Guardian
’s Peter Bradshaw wrote, ‘Martin Freeman is Bilbo, and Freeman’s laidback, more naturalistic line readings make a pleasing and interesting contrast to the more contoured saga-speak that comes out of everyone else’s mouth, whether they are speaking English or Elvish or the guttural Orcish.’

Total Film
’s Matt Maytum wrote, ‘Freeman does at least deliver the goods in some challenging early scenes that see Bilbo in thrall to the lure of the all-important One Ring, with a standout moment plumbing depths of moral murkiness rarely addressed in family entertainment.’

Empire
’s Nick de Semlyen wrote, ‘As Bilbo (a still spot-on Martin Freeman) and co. near their destination, the film gets increasingly busy, splitting the group in two and intercutting between those strands and Gandalf (Ian McKellen), who’s off poking around the ruins of Dol Guldur. That storyline still hasn’t quite caught fire (it basically amounts to the wizard yelling at a giant, evil ink-blot), and it could be argued that more screen time might have been usefully given to the dwarves, who remain largely anonymous.’

Robbie Collin of the
Daily Telegraph
wrote, ‘It even begins beautifully, with a too-rare bit of comic business from Freeman, whom you can’t help feel has more to offer the part of Bilbo than the film is prepared to give him room for.’

Freeman picked up a Stella Award for Best Actor In A Leading Role and was also nominated for Best Hero at the Comic Vine Movie Awards, MTV Movie Awards and YouReviewers Awards. At the time of writing, he was nominated for Best Male Performance In A 2013 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, Or Mini-Series at the Constellation Awards.

It was revealed by the
Sunday People
that Prince William is a fan of
The Hobbit
. Speaking at the Olivier Awards for stage plays, the paper reported that Freeman said, ‘He was a nice guy. He is the biggest royal fan. He knew all the facts about Middle Earth and obviously wanted to be there. Kate was in hospital at the time.’

During the promotional round of interviews, Freeman appeared on the UK’s
The Graham Norton Show
with fellow guests Ben Stiller and Jamie Oliver. ‘It’s done, it’s all finished – for however long you think you are going to be in a Peter Jackson film, you are going to be in it longer,’ he told Norton.

‘It was a long gig. My main challenge was checking in with Peter to see where Bilbo was at a given time. Two-and-a-half years is a very long time to keep a handle on it,’ he continued.

Freeman was now a bona fide Hollywood star, not of A-list pedigree, mind you, but he was now a fully recognisable actor of the big and small screen, and also a national treasure.

‘We all make films hoping people will come and see them and I’ve made plenty of films people didn’t come and see, so it’s nice to have things people do like,’ he said, commenting on the worldwide success of
The Hobbit
.

I
n January 2014 Steven Moffat announced that a fourth series of
Sherlock
had been commissioned and scripts were planned. Plot lines have already been developed for both series four and series five but it all depends on the schedules, not just of Freeman and Cumberbatch but also of writers Moffat and Gatiss. It’s a hard show to get together because of the growing successes of the careers of each person involved, including the creators.

Series three was hugely successful and was met with great acclaim from fans and journalists. ‘The Empty Hearse’ was first shown on BBC1 on 1 January 2014 with ‘The Sign Of Three’ to follow on 5 January and ‘His Last Vow’ on 12 January.
Sherlock
is one of the most watched BBC dramas in a decade, if not the most watched, and certainly one of the most revered TV series of modern times.

Cumberbatch reportedly received a letter from the Sherlock Holmes Society about how they think he should play Holmes. People have ideas about how iconic roles should be played, especially characters such as Sherlock Holmes, but both Cumberbatch and Freeman had their own thoughts and were not going to be swayed by the opinions of the fans. They had absolute faith in writers Gatiss and Moffat.

As has often been the case with shows that have cult appeal and that are genre based, they attract people who are perceived as outsiders, even though there are millions of them. Genre fans are attracted to stories such as
Sherlock
and
The Hobbit
because they represent escapism from the modern world – it is total fantasy. Fans dress as Benedict Cumberbatch, such is the level of success of the show. Shows like
Sherlock
touch many people in different ways and Freeman and his co-stars find it very gratifying.

Curiously, three series of
Sherlock
only equal nine episodes, which is not very many, especially when you consider that US TV shows can run anything between half a dozen episodes per season to as many as twenty-four. It just goes to show the enormous cultural impact
Sherlock
has made on the global viewing public. As with all good TV series,
Sherlock
has become its own thing. It has taken on a life of its own. Of course, such success makes it harder for the writers to live up to the heightening expectations that build with each pending series.

As the success of the series has risen over the years, the logistics of filming on the streets in public has become increasingly difficult. When they film in North Gower Street
in central London, where Holmes’s flat is located, it’s akin to filming in the theatre. As soon as the fans spot them, they start clapping and cheering. It gets distracting for all concerned. Fans – mostly female – stand behind the barriers and cheer at Cumberbatch and Freeman. During breaks in filming, they ask the two stars for autographs. Such is Freeman’s appeal that he’d get just as many fans hounding him as Cumberbatch. Tabloids shot photos of fans behind barricades as they filmed the latest series. They even took photographs of the two lead actors sipping coffees and eating paninis during a break from filming.

Sherlock
is a series that does not patronise its viewers. It tricks them, surprises them and makes them think.

‘Actors bang on about this a lot, but it’s true: sometimes there is proof that audiences aren’t stupid, however much they’re treated as such [laughs],’ Freeman said to
ShortList.com
.
‘Sometimes there are occasions where you go, “I get that, I totally get that.” There are bits of
Sherlock
I have to catch up with. I have to work hard. “Hang on, what’s this? How does this fucking work?”’

Two years had passed since Holmes faked his own death at the end of series two. It had fans gasping for more and the wait felt like an eternity. There was a period of mourning and then Watson tried to pick up the pieces and move on to create a fairly steady life until Holmes comes back into the picture and his world is shaken up again.

‘His best friend has died horribly in front of him,’ Freeman told the BBC of Watson, ‘which took a long time to get over, but the way that his life has moved on is that he has fallen in love with Mary. He is leading a functional, normal-ish life really
which doesn’t have the highs and lows of his life with Holmes but is certainly a bit more steady. But there is a sadness with John which will always be with him when you lose someone that you love – he is slightly dulled by life.’

When Holmes comes back Watson is so overwhelmed, so taken aback by surprise and shock that he faints. As the story progresses the duo become sharper with each other; there is more bite to their reactions with one another. Watson also punches Holmes, which shows just how angry he was.

After the huge success of the first two series, Freeman was not complacent about the third one. The important thing for him was making sure that he did his job as best he could. There are many twists and turns in the series’s narrative but Freeman was not always in possession of the full facts. He was given the plot devices more or less as the filming began so he saw everything as it happened. He was able to create his own theories on such things as Holmes’s death. It also made things easier during interviews so that he wouldn’t accidentally let slip important events.

‘Other than that, apart from the fact that we’ve all got potentially big mouths and you can say too much and then feel like an idiot, you actually don’t want to ruin people’s surprises,’ he told
Den of Geek
’s Louisa Mellor, ‘because however much people say, “Oh go on, tell us,” they wouldn’t thank you for it once the show goes out, they’d think, “Oh, I didn’t really want to know that.” As a punter, I love not knowing stuff, I always get annoyed if I’m watching a film or something with somebody else who’s going, “He’s going to,” or, you know. I’d rather feel stupid and find out than know an hour in advance.’

Freeman has seen his character go through some changes in the three series. He misses being in Afghanistan and being with his comrades, an aspect of his life which was explored in the first series. The closest thing he gets to a thrill is being Holmes’s sidekick, but Watson has developed so much since the partnership first began.

‘With this new series, he’s also fallen in love,’ he told Mark Gatiss in a
Radio Times
interview. ‘He thought his best friend was dead. There’s definitely a sort of light that goes out when you lose somebody you love, but now his life has moved on. He’s in a real grown-up relationship, which he needed to be. So I think that we join John in a way a bit sadder because he lost a friend, a very good friend, but in a way more content, actually.’

Watson’s love interest in the series, Mary Morstan, is none other than Freeman’s real-life partner, Amanda Abbington. She is a hugely significant part of Watson’s existence and becomes Mrs Watson.

The first time the conversation came up between Freeman and the writers about who would play Watson’s wife was during series two.

‘I said, “Well, to be honest, I think Amanda would be pretty good,” and he goes, “That’s exactly what we were thinking,’” Freeman said to
Vulture
’s Denise Martin. ‘They knew she was able to be funny and engaging and just right. I mean, the last thing you want is to feel like you’re being John and Yoko, but Amanda can do this all day long in her sleep. Of course, I love her, but I know also she’s really fucking good. I wouldn’t say she should play everything in the world, but as far as this casting, it’s pretty good.’

Freeman and Abbington went to Mark Gatiss’s house with Steven Moffat to watch
The Hound of the Baskervilles
and after the film finished Gatiss suggested they go in the kitchen to chat about the next series and the introduction of a new female character. To follow the trajectory of the original stories they needed a love interest for Watson.

She said to
The Independent
’s James Rampton in 2013, ‘I thought they were going to ask me, “Do you have any ideas for this part? Which actress do you think works well with Martin? What about Penélope Cruz or Gwyneth Paltrow [two of Freeman’s previous co-stars]?” In fact, what they said to me was, “We’d like you to play Mary.” I probably got quite emotional at that point.’

Abbington even tried to talk them out of giving her the role but they were adamant that she should be cast in the series. Gatiss and Moffat thought it would be easy for the couple to act together. Her role is pivotal to Watson’s therapy after Holmes’s shocking comeback in ‘The Empty Hearse’. She found Freeman easy to work with and, after all, he is her favourite actor and not just her partner. The two characters go on a journey together in the stories and Abbington felt blessed to be given the opportunity to be cast opposite Freeman. She told
The Independent
: ‘He’s so easy to work with and so creative. He brings something different to every single take. He is so on top of his lines that he can dig down and find a different angle every time. That really keeps you on your toes. Both characters go on a wonderful journey, and to do that with Martin was such fun.’

Freeman has described her as ‘unpretentious, unfussy, clear
in her decision-making and not a drama queen’ in an interview with the
Sunday Times
’s Benji Wilson.

What Abbington found challenging was being the third wheel between Freeman and Cumberbatch. She felt the pressure of the role because she had quite a few scenes with the two of them and found the famous scene where Holmes reveals himself to Watson after everyone assumed he was dead to be a real challenge.

‘Ben and Martin have real chemistry,’ she admitted to
The Independent
’s James Rampton, ‘and I had to hold my own in the scenes with them. It was daunting – not necessarily to come between them, but to arrive as another dynamic.’

On working with her partner, Abbington enthused to
The Hollywood Reporter
’s Philiana Ng, ‘I think he’s one of our finest actors and I think he’s just a joy to work with, as is Ben[edict Cumberbatch]. Their chemistry is fantastic, so coming into that was slightly daunting because they work each off each other so beautifully. I’ve worked with Martin on other projects. They were all very small parts, but this was the first part of any substance and depth.’

However, when it became public knowledge that Abbington would be cast alongside Freeman in the show, she received death threats on Twitter. As quoted in an article in the
Express
by Tom Morgan, Freeman responded by saying, ‘To me, they’re not fans of the show – they’re fans of a show going off their heads.’

He continued, ‘Obviously I love Amanda and I want everyone to react positively to her. She plays a fantastic character and brings a hell of a lot to the third series.’

What’s interesting about Watson is seeing what he has learned from Holmes and he applies the knowledge and skills to solving clues himself with Holmes’s approval.

‘I think, as you saw snippets of when Sherlock and I are together, you saw very very small snippets of when Sherlock would occasionally say, “Well go on then, let’s see what you’ve learned,”’ Freeman told
Den of Geek
’s Louisa Mellor. ‘I think John, by his own admission… probably compared to another normal person in a room might look quite impressive because of his time with Sherlock and just because of his forensic skill, but knowing how small his knowledge is compared to Sherlock’s, I think he would feel quite insecure about that.’

Series three also saw a new villain with the Scandinavian actor Lars Mikkelsen who plays Charles Augustus Magnussen, Holmes and Watson’s latest nemesis in the vein of Moriarty.

The series has made both lead stars household names and has proved that Britain is capable of making good telly at a time when there is so much interest in American series such as
Breaking Bad, The Wire, House of Cards
and
Game of Thrones
. It is a testament to the writers’ talents that they created such an engrossing, engaging and well-written series as
Sherlock
even with a BBC budget. Ultimately, regardless of financial restraints, it’s all down to the writing. Big-budget TV shows can be disastrous if the writing is bad (the Spielberg-produced
Terra Nova
being a case in point) but shows such as
Sherlock
, which have relatively small budgets by today’s standards, turn out wonderfully because the writing is superlative.

San Francisco Chronicle
’s David Wiegand said, ‘The performances are even better than in previous years, with
brand-new but fully credible sides of Holmes’s and Watson’s characters. And the writing, by Moffat and Gatiss, is in a league by itself. Other shows may plateau or tread thematic water once they’re successful, but so far,
Sherlock
has been, and remains, a great show that only gets even better.’

The Washington Post
’s Hank Stuever wrote, ‘
Sherlock
moves swiftly and intelligently but also a little too coldly, like a long commercial for better WiFi… Cumberbatch’s take on Holmes’s narcissism can come off as skeevishly robotic. If not for Freeman’s deeper, more human work as Watson, the style would soon go sterile.’

Writing in
Variety
, Brian Lowery said, ‘It all works thanks heavily to the chemistry between Cumberbatch and Freeman, which alternates between wide-eyed wonder and exasperation to the point of the good doctor calling his pal a “dickhead” and a “cock”.’

One thing Freeman is aware of is the online community that is dedicated to depicting sexual and intimate scenes between Holmes and Watson. Ian McKellen, his
Hobbit
co-star, even sent him some pictures via email with a message ‘Have you seen this dear?’

‘I’ve always seen it as a point of principle not to be offended if people imply you’re gay – so no, I’ve never given a shit,’ Freeman admitted to
Time Out London
’s Nick Aveling on the subject. ‘If I was offended, I’d kind of think, well what does that make me? I wouldn’t want a fifteen-year-old kid thinking I’m ashamed of it. I’m not. If anything, it’s kind of funny to see pictures of me and Ben doing whatever we’re doing to each other – even if they’re far from the truth. The only time I’m sort
of bothered is when people get proprietary about it or think there should be a certain kind of reaction, like it needs to be in the National Gallery.’