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Thursday, 28 March 2024

Martin Freeman Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

Credit: GQ
Duration: 25:44s 0 shares 2 views

Martin Freeman Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters
Martin Freeman Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

Martin Freeman breaks down his most iconic roles, including his characters in 'Black Panther,' 'The Office,' 'The Office,' 'Sherlock,' 'Love Actually,' 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' 'Fargo,' 'The World's End' and 'Breeders.'

Breeders premieres March 2 on FX & FX on Hulu

- I went a long way with theAmerican Office actually.I haven't seen all of them,but I've seen an awful lot of them.I thoroughly enjoyed it.It's different from ourshow, but at the same time,when there are similarities,I was able to kind of seewhat people liked about our show.[uptempo drumbeat]The Office.When I think of The Office,it's hard not to thinkof the experience of TheOffice because the experiencewas so genuinely funny.It was like a crash coursefor me in doing somethingthat I have enjoyed since,which is occasionally justtrying not to act at all.Do you know what I mean?Like trying to do away with any artificeor anything between you as aperformer and the characterand the audience, just beabsolutely as real as possible.Don't do any acting.And that -- I mean, ever sincereally, that's sort of beenmy favorite type of acting.I'm a sales rep, which meansthat my job is to speakto clients on the phone aboutquantity and type of paper,whether we can supply it with themand whether they can pay for it.And I'm boring myselftalking about it, which is.So Tim allowed me to -- youknow, I've got a brothercalled Tim even, and Isort of based little bitsof my interpretation of Tim,a little bit on myself obviously,a little bit on family members.Yeah, that was what Ithought of the character.And he was pretty much theconduit for the audience.And I think that was thefirst time that I playedthat sort of character andI've played them since.- Wassup!- Hey wassup, I love that.- Wassup.You're fired, Kenan.Drunkard.Hypocrite warning.Oh God, what's he been saying?It's all true.- I'm a sucker for goodwriting and the writingon The Office by RickyGervais and Stephen Merchantwas just, was just really good.It was really, really good.What I loved about them wasthey sort of, they didn't knowanything but they knew everything.They kind of, they were veryunschooled and very untutoredbut had a freshness to themthat was alarming actually.[light piano music]When I first heard about it,of course I was quite resistant.I thought "Why do they need to do this?"Can't just show ours."And actually, once I sawthe show, I really liked it.I went a long way with theAmerican Office actually.The Jim and Pam thing, kind of echoingthe Tim and Dawn story, Iwas able to sort of see,"Oh yeah, that's why peoplereally loved that story."It's just very, two verysweet, normal peoplefalling in love in a very sweet way.What's he doing?What's Juan doing telling people to sayplease if we don't know --I'm sorry, I was gonna cut you off.After you.It was shot very cleverlyand the whole conceptof it sort of beinglike a mock documentarywas that any glance, likeanything that you put overto somebody else was picked up.So you don't have to overact,you don't have to over egg it.The camera's seeing everythingor everything that the teamwants the camera to see.So it would only take me orLucy Davis, who played Dawn,just to do that and people know.People know what it isand I loved doing that.It's like a sort of exercisein honing subtlety actually,from a craft point of view.- [Man] Okay, good, that's fine.- Yeah, all right.- It's a bit dark actually,didn't bring a flash.Probably not gonna use these actually.Okay, don't be disappointedif they're not in.- No.- Yeah, it was the thingthat people shouted at mefor a good couple of years.For my own personal life,it was the characterthat made people know who I am,even before I knew who I wasand I'm still on that journey.I remember being in NewYork once in a luggage shopand people would come up and quoteDavid Brent's lines to me.So David Brent had some horrendous linesand so I'm just looking atluggage and this guy came inand went, "I think there'sbeen a rape up there."And I thought that, A -- not my line,B -- shh, C -- I'm off.The Hobbit.I think, whether you're JamesCagney or me or whoever --name any one of a hundredactors -- whoever you are,whatever you're bringing,it has to be real, right?So if you put James Cagneyin a film now, he would seemkind of big, right?That was like, that's a strong flavor.I didn't disbelief anythinghe ever said, right?Nothing, because he means it, right?So whether you're doingsomething that is up to 11or something that's two orthree, as long as you invest itwith the truth of thatmoment, hopefully the audiencewill go along with that and believe it.I can't take this.- The blade is of elvish make.- I haven't even used a sword in my life.- And I hope you never have to.- The thing about somethinglike The Hobbit is,because it's a big old beast, right?And it's fantastical, I mean literallyit's a huge fantasy story.But unless you imbueit with real humanity,then why should people care?I always felt that Ian McKellendid it really really well.He walked that line betweenthe big and the sort of epic,and the very very human andthe vulnerable brilliantly.No idea you were still in business.- And where else should I be?[Bilbo mumbling]- I think you're not actingas a person would actor even as a hobbit would actor as an elf would act, you know?I think still, if it's about you try --if it's about you trying to look heroic,or if it's about you trying to look coolor sexy or whatever,I'm just not interested.I'm not interested.Because then you've forgottenthe point of the sceneif you're trying to getyour cheekbones into it.So, fortunately for me, Idon't have any cheekbones,so that's not, that's notreally a worry for me ever.There are parts of himfacially and physicallythat I felt, I was thinking ofa sort of woodland creature.Not even a specific one.I'm not even that detailed an actor.Just a woodland creature."Which one?"Dunno.But just something, a creaturewhose ears go, "What's that?"You know what I mean?Like somebody who's gonna be huntedbecause obviously hobbitsare not carnivores,they're not like thetop of the food chain.They're just peaceful,getting on with it farmers.Live on the land, rural peoplewho just like ale and foodand living a quiet life.So I thought, "Well okay,he's not an alligator."Like he's just someone whojust wants to gather berries,and obviously creatures who gather berrieshave got things huntingthem, and so I think he just,his radar was always up.Also the feet.If you've got feet thisbig, it makes you walkin a different way becauseyou're picking up your legs morethan you would normallyhave to do to get clearancefrom the ground for the toes.So that gives you a different gait.Yeah, I just had to sortof, again walk that lineof giving him all the humanity you can,because he's basically carryingyou through three films,but also remembering thathe's not actually just a dude.He's not.He's -- they're not human.They're human-ish, but they'renot exactly the same as us.Sherlock.My only preconceptionwas potentially negativeand turned out to be wrong thankfully.My feeling was, "Do weneed an updated Sherlock?"I kinda felt, at its worst,it would be willfullysort of anachronistic and cooland "Hey, we're makinghim drive a sports car."Just stuff that was, that Iwould find annoying actually.But I wasn't reckoningof course on how goodStephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss were,and I should have done becauseI know they're very good.But I only thought that for five minutesand then I thought --and then I saw the scriptand thought, yes.Within page three, I think,yes it's really really smart.It's exciting, it's funny, it's visceraland you knew that if it wasgonna be shot and directed well,this was gonna be a great show.That was ridiculous.That was the most ridiculousthing I've ever done.- And you invaded Afghanistan.[both laughing]- Benedict, I think, was already on boardand I came back for mycallback and read with himand it became clearimmediately that we hada rhythm together that was unusual,as in unusually easyand we complimented eachother very very well.I had no interest in being --and nor was it written like that --a bumbling kind ofslightly foolish fall guy.I thought, "Well the worlddoesn't need to see that,"I don't want to [beep] play that."And it wasn't that anyway.So it allowed me to sort ofbe, to be a strong characteras well and to cut him down a bitand to take the piss out of him.So it was a bit more equalthan, "Oh there's Sherlock"and oh and there's JohnWatson over there somewhere."I mean, clearly it's still Sherlock.It's still a more Sherlockshow than John's obviously,but still it was much moreevenhanded than I thinka lot of the versions of that friendshipthan we've ever seen.- Alex Woodbridge, didn't know him,especially with our past.- And?- Is that it?No habits, hobbies, personality?- Give us a chance, hewas a amateur astronomer.- Hold that cab.- It was a sort of barbed friendshipand a sort of angular friendship.It wasn't just easy, hey.We kind of took lumps outof each other sometimesand I loved that.But yeah, it was one of those things.The chemistry, you can'tmanufacture and you can't fake.It was very fortunatebecause as soon as we startedreading together, I thought,"Oh, this would really really work."And I already knew hima little bit, his work.I thought he was reallyreally good and I thought,"Yeah, he's gonna be great."I would love to do thisbecause I think this could be"a very good show."- Love Actually.It's only vaguely a bugbear when people go,"Oh you played that pornstar in Love Actually."It's like, "No, well okay."It wasn't actuallymeant to be a porn star,"it was meant to be twopeople who are stand-ins"on a film set, but fine."That's the sort of mostoften misunderstood oneof my roles, I think.I was working withJoanna Page in our scenesand she had to have hertop off fairly quickly.By the way, he introducedme as John but actually,everyone calls me Jack.- Oh, fine.Nice to meet you, Jack.- Richard Curtis makes avery good set, you know?He sets the tone.He tries to put everyone atease as humanly possible,whatever they're doing.I was fully dressed, she was half dressed,I had to be behind her,gently sort of cupping her breasts, right?You know, about a minute after we've met.All right.- [Director] Massage them please.- But the comedy beingthat we're having mundane,everyday conversations whilewe're in this ridiculousposition, or while I'm inthe position of pretendingto be hip thrustingher while we're talkingabout how bad the traffic wasgetting here kind of thing.Again, two sweet peoplehaving a sweet conversationbut as stand-ins on a movie set,sort of acting out very sexual stuff.Being naked or nearlynaked is always kind of,it's a tough one.It's not -- because in frontof however many people,it's not the first thing you'dvolunteer for, I don't think.Man or woman, it's notthe first thing you think,"I know, I've got an idea."And so in that sense, you needto hopefully be enjoying itand you need to really focuson a well written scene.It's very different ifyou're doing a love sceneor a sex scene, which these were not,because that is about loveand sex and "oh baby".This was about something totally --the dialogue could've been,should've been happeningat a cafe, the twopeople just having a chatover a cup of coffee, but it was happeningwhen we were both naked and Iwas pretending to, you know.You know, this is a real pleasure.It's lovely to find someoneI can actually chat to.Like, it's very incongruous,hence the comedy, I hope.Black Panther.Well yeah, what's niceabout playing Everett Rossin Black Panther is -- andbefore that, in Civil War --once he gets to Wakanda,he's absolutely a fish out of water.So I suppose in some way,the way that he was viewingthis technology and this futuristic placeis a sort of audience conduit as well,because we don't live in Wakanda.We don't live in thatsort of futuristic world.He is a very very high status-- in his world, in his job --very high status person.And then to have that all taken awayand he sort of has nostatus, that was interesting.I guess I've often playedpeople who find themselvesin extraordinary circumstances.What?- You are a great pilot.Don't worry, I'll guide you through it.It's just like riding a hoverbike.- Black Panther was oneof those that obviously,you get on the Marvel trainand the train is operatingjust fine without you,it's gonna carry on withor without you just fine.And it's one of the fewthings that you will ever doin your life where you knowthere is a huge audience for it.Most other things you doin your life, you hopethere's gonna be an audience for it.But this is a big old train, as I said.It's been rolling just fine.So people will see it, peoplewill definitely watch this,but the extent of whichwas, again very overwhelmingand very gratifying.People loved it.[ships whooshing]Shuri, the last cargo shipis almost at the borderbut they got me trappedwith some kind of cables.My most joke impression of Ryanwas that he would walk awayand come back four times,do you know what I mean?So he's like [imitatingdirections being given].A lot of stroking of his beard.It was a mighty beard aswell, the more it went on,like it was a good old beard.And a lot of strokingof that, lots of pauses."Yeah" and then go away.So you go, "Oh all right."And then he comes back.He's like Columbo, "One more thing."I mean, that is not to give the impressionthat he was in any way ubercontrolling or anything,I mean, he's totally trusting.I had a lot of freedom on that set.I felt like people were playing.If they wanted to play,you could definitely play.It wasn't keeping you in a boxbecause he trusted his actorsbut he just, if he had adetailed thing that he wantedyou to think about, hereally wanted you to getevery syllable of what he meant.I think he hates the ideaof being misunderstood.Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.I think one of my skillsin life is being quite goodat not feeling amazing pressure.I genuinely don't, Idon't really feel pressurethat much, at work.I feel pressure in other ways,in family life and real life,I can feel pressure at the drop of a hat.But in work, it takes a lot for meto really feel intimidated,you know what I mean?I couldn't feel that playingBilbo, didn't feel thatplaying John Watson, Ididn't -- because well,I've got every right to have a go at this.Someone else will have a go in 20 yearsand someone else had a go beforeand they're perfectly entitled to it.This is my go.Hitchhiker's Guide to theGalaxy had been a radio show,it'd been albums, it'dbeen a TV show in the UKin the early 80s that Iremember as a young kid.And the portrayal of Arthur --and it's a good portrayal of Arthur --it's kind of how it's writtenas a sort of archetypal,middle class, slightly posh manwho is bamboozled by everything.I thought, "There'ssomething in me obviously"that they've seen thatthey want me to do it."And this was a long time, allthey would have seen reallywas The Office, do you know what I mean?I thought, "Well I'vejust got to be the truth"that I can bring to it asopposed to somebody else."[buzzer sounding]- [Narrator] His name is Arthur Dent.He is a five foot, eightinch tall ape descendant,and someone is trying to drivea bypass through his house.- When you're playing acompletely different version,like a cover version of the same song,you've gotta just do yourown version, I think.I was very aware thata lot of people I loveand people in my familywere dying, were so pleasedthat I was doing it.And so I wanted to honorthat and I was really pleasedfor them and I was pleasedfor the people who I lovedwho loved the books.But yes, I think I'm quitegood at not feeling overwroughtby things, to be honest.I try and treat things quite soberlyand even though, of courseI get excited about it,of course I do.And I am on my kneesmetaphorically every daythanking God that I'm an actor.Before you start having your own partyabout how excited you are,you've got to [beep] do the workand the work's hard.It's hard to be good.So I really really wantto be good in this job,so I want to sort of concentrate on it.So I -- and you just know,feeling that pressureis not going to help.It's not going to help at all.I think, I'm a big believer ineveryone does their best workwhen they're a little bitrelaxed or when they feel free.If you contain someone andsort of try and controlwhat they're doing andscare them, people --I just don't think peoplework well out of fear.But I think acting's really fun.It's really fun and it shouldbe and I'm only ever gonna behalf decent at it if I'm enjoying it.So no, I didn't feel pressure.Fargo.I, along with the rest of the world,when we started doing Fargo,had just watched Breaking Bad, right?And so there was a hint of that,there was a hint of that in it.Straight person trying to do his best.I mean, Lester was far more better.He's described in thescript as the sort of personwho, if you knocked into him,he would apologize to you.But he has his ownlittle journey of a turn,something happens in his lifeand it's not the same again.It was -- a tie.You know, I was standingup to the -- I was,I was being a man.- But you're not a man, Lester.- And then of course,much later on, we join himand he's, you'd say he'sbecome the kind of alpha.And just when he thinkshis life is gonna be alpha,then something happens againand it's all gone to [beep].Because I suppose in reallife, I believe in chaos.I believe that a lot of things are chaosand it's -- I suppose I believein that more than I believein conspiracy, generally.I believe in the cock up, you know?And one second, split second decision,changes his life completely obviously.He didn't plan it, he didn'twant it to happen necessarily.He wasn't thinking, "Howcan I kill my --", one.So as an actor, I like dealing with the --I like a characterdealing with the unknownand I like a character --it's more interesting I guess.I believe, no I'd love to play the guywho comes off a yacht with a margarita.I'd love to [beep] do that.But I suppose really what Ifind interesting is the stuffthat I find interesting in reallife, which is how do we --how are you coping?How are we all working this out?Lester had that in spades.I mean, he was just constantly,like a very very reactivecharacter, reacting to biggerand more cynical people than himself.Oh oh yeah, I'm gonna pickher up probably Friday.- No sir, I'm supposed to tell you,your car is not ready yet.- What do you mean?- It's -- well the forensicteam is looking at it.- Forensic?- Yes sir.- I stay in the accentall day, from the timeI'm picked up in the morning to wrap.I have a pretty good ear, right?So I'd be able to do a fairly good stabat an accent quite quickly.But I think, after a while,you would start to hearinconsistencies if you treatit like a sketch or a skit.You're not in SNL, you'renot just doing a gag.You've got to go over 10 hoursof believing these peopleso you can't mock, you can'ttake a shortcut and go,"Oh they probably soundsomething like this".So I wanted to really do it properly.I obviously had help, a couple of sessionsbefore we started shooting.There was a guy on set all thetime while we were shooting.If I would ever havea week away from work,I mean, I would use YouTube.There were a couple of videosthat I used of young guysfrom Minnesota just talking.Once you've got that keyed intoyour DNA for the time being,you just need to quicklyrefresh it if you've not beentalking like that for a while.I would just like to say howsorry I am about your husband.We went to high school together.Some people of course say,"We don't sound like that."And other people from Minnesota say,"No, we do, yeah you got it."And I think I was very happyin that a lot of peoplefrom Minnesota said to me,"No that was, that was pretty good."So I'll take that all day long, yeah.The World's End.I've known Edgar andSimon for a long time.It felt a little bit like agang of mates getting togetherand sort of having fun.Because I know them, it was as I hopedand expected it would be really.It was just fun but work.Because at the -- it'sstill obviously, it's craftbecause you are still comingin very early, going home lateand the cliche is especially in comedy,you've got to work hard.Yeah I think you've got towork hard all the [beep] timebut especially if you'retrying to make things funny,it's not always massively easy.It is sometimes.Sometimes but not always.You have my card.Gary, WTF?- It's good to see you too, O-Man.- Please don't call me O-Man.- Sure.- Oliver Chamberlain was writtenas everyone's annoying yuppy idiot.The way the characters areintroduced, you have to geta pretty easy read onall of them, I guess.And his is a sort of workobsessed, career obsessed yuppywho had been a yuppy from the age of 16.I think that's where he saw himself.He makes, he makes bold films, Edgar.Because when you think,"Oh it's this sort of film"and then it's also sort of,there's martial arts bits,there's great great fights in it.Fantastic fight sequences in it.And then of course, thewhole sci-fi dystopian bit.But he's got a real ambitionand energy to his work, I think.And sometimes you seehim over at the monitoracting out with hisevery sinew of his body,everything we're doing.And very occasionally with a director --and I've had it before, I'vehad it many times before --where you do something andyou catch the director going[sighing], like that.And you think, "Oh, well Iguess he didn't like that."When you see the disappointmenton a director's faceat something you've just done,you're like, [beep], you know?But he's a real dynamo.Breeders.Breeders started withme, it started as my ideaand I sort of then broughtit to my clever conferees,Chris Addison and Simon Blackwelland we developed the show together.And it came out of -- forme, and I think similarlyfor Simon and Chris -- as we found outin our various father'smeetings after that,which we pretended weredevelopment meetingsbut actually was like father'stherapy sort of thing.Yeah, it's the discoverythat at the center of it,Paul, who I play, is a personwho has thought all his lifehe's a nice guy.He's been told he's a nice person."I'm a nice guy, I'm a decent guy."And then you become afather and then you realizethere is a side to you that is not nice.Impatient, spoiled, entitled.And having someone readyour fortune like that,and they're a baby, islike, that's quite alarming.In my own experience,lots of things came outabout my personality, like"Why am I this angry?"It's kind of amazing.It's amazing because at thesame time as you're feelingmore love for a person thanyou've felt possible to feel --and I still feel obviouslyabout my two kids --it's possible to turn on a dimeand want to throwyourself out of a window.There we go.[baby crying]Oh mother --!- Dad, Dad, Dad, wake up!- Sorry sorry.- What's this?Breeders, we've hopefullymanaged to get a worldwhere it's as many things in the programas it is in real life.In the course of an hour,I will be kissing them,laughing with them, huggingthem, shouting at them,trying to feed them.It's all of it and it's all encompassing.One of the things that made me wanna do itwas I couldn't go to any morenice London dinner partieswhere people were just going,"Isn't it amazing being a parent?"Isn't it, isn't it just incredible?"Like, yeah of course it is.For me, the love thingtakes care of itself.There's no question youare gonna adore this child.Ava, this isn't helping.Ava, I can't get my keys out.Ava.[child giggling]No, no, no.- I love you daddy.- My job is the same everywhere.If I make a student film nextweek, then my job is the sameas it is on Black Panther,is to convince in that scene.It's to be truthful to that scene.You know, I glibly saythis but I think it's true,the difference is catering.Craft services is the biggest difference.It's all the same really,apart from all the whistles and bells.Your job is exactly the same.Everything in life,everything in life is easy.Everything, unless youwanna be good at it.If you wanna do somethingwell, it's really [beep] hard.Football, piece of cake.Be good at it, it's a bit harder.Acting, I'm always thinking, "Oh yeah".I'm trying to always play it off."It's not that down on mine".It's pretty -- to be good at it,it's not that easy actually.It's a lifetime struggleto try and be a good actorand that work never stops.I've done so many iconic roles.God, I'm such an amazing icon.[producers laughing]- [Producer] It's almost like we shoulddo a video about you.- Yeah, why is no one doing that?

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