Tom Cardy of Fairfax NZ News chats exclusively with Martin Freeman about The Hobbit: When I meet British actor Martin Freeman, it’s in a makeshift cafeteria next to a giant temporary sound stage Sir Peter Jackson is using in Upper Hutt that was once a car assembly plant.
Freeman has a rare day off from filming – as he speaks Jackson is right next door shooting a scene with the 13 dwarfs whom Bilbo joins on their quest. But rather than not think about The Hobbit he’s more than happy to talk to talk to reporters for an hour, well beyond the time that was expected of him.
As the hobbit in The Hobbit, Freeman is the one that will carry the story along through three films over the next three years – like Elijah Wood as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings.
The last time I saw Freeman in the flesh he was when he joined the 13 dwarfs, sans costumes, makeup and prosthetics, before filming began. Only this time there’s something now of a Bilbo aura about him that wasn’t there before. Freeman likes fashion and has garnered the nickname ”the mobbit” on the set for his love of British Mod culture. So even though he’s in his own clothes, they seem cut in a way not unlike Bilbo, right down to a waist coat.
