Martin Freeman Talks The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five ArmiesPosted by Wilson Morales
December 15, 2014
Coming out this week is Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” the third in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The massive cast includes Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Martin Freeman, Stephen Fry, Jed Brophy, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, Billy Connolly, James Nesbitt, Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Graham McTavish, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Richard Armitage, John Bell, Adam Brown, John Callen, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Dean O’Gorman, Mikael Persbrandt, Aidan Turner, Manu Bennett, and Lawrence Makoare.
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.
Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain.
As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide to unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.
For Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo Baggins, it’s been a great journey working with Peter Jackson and the rest of the cast. Not only has the English actor increased his profile hugely through his role in the films, but he also has been widely seen as Dr. John Watson in the BBC series Sherlock as well as Lester Nygaard in FX’s critically acclaimed series ‘Fargo.’
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with Freeman about finishing up the ride with ‘The Hobbit’ films.
Where is Bilbo Baggins at this point for anyone ready to see ‘The Battle of the Five Armies?’
Martin Freeman: We were in the kingdom of Erebor. The dwarfs and Bilbo found their way back to their mountain home. And there’s that, on the one hand. And, on the other hand, there’s a bloody great dragon terrorizing the people of Lake-town who have put us up and helped us. So we join us as we’re looking on helplessly as a dragon ravages the good people of Lake-town. And so the leader of the dwarfs is getting greedy for gold and Bilbo doesn’t know what to do about it.
How has this journey been for the last three to four years for you?
MF: It’s been great. It’s been huge. It’s been an amazing opportunity. A lot of fun. A lot of work. A lot of…yeah, it’s been amazing. It’s like a once in a lifetime job, I think, you know. There aren’t many jobs like this that come along, scale wise, character wise. Characters that mean so much to an audience. And, yeah, I’ve loved it.
Is there any scene in particular that stands out that the audience is going to gasp?
MF: Yeah. The battle’s pretty good. That’s very spectacular. And that’s the centerpiece of the film. So I would say it’s another very, very well choreographed piece on Peter’s behalf. So, yeah, it’s spectacular. But, as always, with him, he makes it about story and he makes it about character. It’s not just about the spectacle and lots of people killing each other. He always makes it about the cost to characters that we care about. I think he does that brilliantly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a battle sustained so well for so long in a film.
What’s it been like for you when you’re working alongside the same group of guys and females for this long journey? Is it a great chemistry between you and the actors as well as you and Peter? When you walk way that you can say, ‘We’re friends’, as opposed to just colleagues?
MF: Yeah. Yeah, you do definitely make some friends on this stuff. I mean, you know, everyone is going to walk away with good frienships. I certainly didn’t walk away with any ill feelings for anybody, which is saying something over that long time, you know. I don’t think anyone ever had a serious falling out. No one ever fight. No punches were thrown. And, again, that’s not a bad thing, you know, with that many blokes in a small space for that long time. We treated each other very respectfully. We generally got on extremely well. Yeah, I definitely made friends out of it. And we all came away with a great…well, those of us who didn’t know Peter before, came away with a great love and respect for him, as well. It’s lovely spending time with this same kind of cast because you get to trust each other. You get to understand each other’s burn and you get to understand what you need, what they don’t need, what is helpful, what is unhelpful. Yeah, it’s just like a shorthand. And certainly by halfway through we all know enough about each other to know when to come close, when to stay away. And how to make each other laugh. You know, what we like to drink.
Did you take any part of your costume home as a souvenir?
MF: Yeah. They gave us all bits of stuff. You know I took some…I took a dressing gown home. I took a sword home. I took a contract that Bilbo has with the dwarves from the first film home. So, yeah, we all got presents at the end. It was lovely.
Looking back after shooting all three films, which one was more challenging to film? Was it the first one or the last one?
MF: The first one, for me. Definitely. Cause you’re establishing it. And, you know, I was new to the country, new to the project. New to the cast. New to Peter. So, yeah, I was establishing Bilbo and what I wanted to do with him and how I was going to play him. And what sort of Bilbo we were going to have in these films. So, yeah, definitely the first one. Cause by the time we got to the third one, all that was very established And, yeah, it’s…yeah, definitely the first one is more difficult. Yeah. Cause you’re making…you’re trying to make your mark, you know. And everybody’s trying to make their mark. And trying to give each other room but also doing what it is you want to get achieved.
You’ve been around on the big screen and small screens from ‘Sherlock’ to ‘Fargo’. How’s life been besides just shooting these movies and then just doing a series in which you’re getting a lot of acclaim.
MF: My professional life has been lovely. It’s been fantastic the last few years. To be honest, I left film school a long time ago and I’ve always worked. I’ve been lucky in that respect. But, yeah, certainly the last few years have been amazingly fortunate for me, you know. To have a few things going on simultaneously that I like and the people like. And to be recognized for that and to be recognized by your peers for that is delightful. Yeah, and above and beyond the call of duty it’s enough just to do the work. You know, that’s the dream, really. The dream is to be able to make a living doing the thing you love. But beyond that when people really like it and want to reward you with more work, that’s been fantastic.
What are you doing when you’re not on the big screen and you’re not on the small screen? What do you do to just stay grounded and humbled?
MF: Well, just real life. I think real life is grounding enough for me. Living, you know. Being with your family. Doing mundane things. Doing exciting things. Just nothing to do with the job. Yeah, just real life grounds you, I think. I think you should try and stay grounded even when you’re on the big or small screen, to be honest. It’s not that hard. It’s not rocket science to be nice to people or to be polite or remember how your mom raised you. It’s reasonably straightforward, I think. Mom and dad knows that there’s a huge, grounding, humbling force right there at home. So, I get plenty of that.
What is that we’re going to see you in next after the series is over? Obviously you got the TV show going on. But is there another project in the works, film wise?
MF: My next thing that’s going to be coming out is a BBC film called ‘The Eichmann Show’, which is about the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in the early ’60s. And I play the real life producer of the trial. It was televised all over the world. And I’m playing Milton Fruchtman, who was the man who kind of put the show together as it is. And managed to get it transmitted to over thirty countries in the world. And I mean the event, really, in which, really the Holocaust became fully, fully known to the extent that it has been known ever since, world. Because it was the first time the world heard firsthand accounts of survivors to that degree. So it’s a very interesting film. I haven’t seen it yet. I’m looking forward to it. I did it a couple of months ago in Lithuania. But that will be on Holocaust Memorial Day in January in the UK.
For anybody who is just now getting involved with the series and has started to catch up with it, or has not, what’s a good reason to see ‘The Hobbit-The Battle of the Five Armies’?
MF: Well, if they haven’t seen the rest of them I would advise them not to see this one yet. I would say, see the others. But if you have seen them and liked them and you want the end of the film and the end of the story, then this is the end of the story. There’s a bloody great battle in it. And you see whether you see goodies and baddies get what’s coming to them. And we all like a bit of that.
