STACK Magazine April 2015 Issue 126

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032 APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi
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Is it strange for you that your Sherlock
co-star Benedict Cumberbatch plays the
dragon, Smaug?
MARTIN FREEMAN: Well, it is and it isn’t.
I think he’s good casting. Whether we had
done Sherlock or not, I think he’d be good
casting for that part. It didn’t feel that strange.
Again, truthfully, it felt like, ‘It seems to be
following us around, this screen relationship.’
But I didn’t see him the whole time we did
it. Even my bits, I wasn’t even working with
his voice. I was just working with someone
reading his lines. So, in truth, it didn’t feel
that odd, but when you step back from it, it’s
another thing people will hang on us together.
Like, ‘They’re a couple in this as well.’ In that
sense, it’s quite odd.
What do you think Peter Jackson’s greatest
skills are as a director?
I was always amazed at his ability to keep
three films in his head at once, and juggle
those, and know where that was going to go
and what was needed five scenes down the
line, that he’s doing this little punch-in for, and
this cut-away is going to mean something four
hours away…it’s hard to describe but he’s
keeping that whole universe in his head. It’s a
huge undertaking, a massive undertaking.
Obviously he’s got help. Jabez Olssen is a
fantastic editor but Pete is a fantastic editor
too. That’s what amazed me about him. On
a human level, he was surviving on very
little sleep, and a lot of stress. Outwardly, he
seemed to cope with it very, very well. So,
in a way, the things I was most impressed
about him were human things. Not necessarily
director-related. How are you not having a
nervous breakdown?
What were the most memorable scenes in
The Battle of the Five Armies
for you?
I had a nice scene with James Nesbitt
as Bofur on the battlements. I liked the
fighting. I liked doing that. I hadn’t done much
professionally, though at drama school I was
always quite good at stage-fighting. Unless
you are an action person – and I’m not exactly
one of those – you don’t tend to do loads
of it anyway. But I had a very good team
of stunt-doubles, and my stunt-double was
fantastic. But the understanding was always:
when I could do it, I would do it. Where it was
possible for me to do it, without insurance
going mad or running the risk of injuring myself
and being out for a week, I wanted as much of
it as possible to be me on screen as Bilbo.
What is his biggest test in this final film?
He’s already faced the dragon…
Without giving anything away, I would say
his greatest challenge is playing the Kofi Annan
role and trying to keep the peace, trying to
somehow avoid there being this massive,
apocalyptic battle. It’s his way of trying to
neutralise that – that’s his biggest challenge.
How was the final day of the shoot? How
did you feel?
I was relieved and sad. It surprised me. I’m
very emotional and sentimental about lots
of things, but I’m not very emotional about
finishing work. I like finishing jobs always. I
always want to finish a job. However much
I enjoy it, I want to finish it, because I want
to have done it. It’s certainly not a mark of
whether I’m enjoying it or not. Every job I’ve
loved I’ve been delighted to finish. Because
that’s reality. If somebody said, ‘You’re going
to be Bilbo for the rest of your life,’ that
would be a nightmare. Same as anyone. John
Watson – anybody. I don’t want to do it for the
rest of my life.
But on the last day, the last bit of filming
was with Richard Armitage and Graham
McTavish, who plays Dwalin, and I was leaving
just before they were. They had a bit more to
do, and Graham said, ‘It’s been lovely working
with you, mate’, and he had a catch in his voice
and he started to go, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m
gonna go here as well.’ And I hadn’t felt that in
two years. But I suddenly realised I’ve spent a
good chunk of my life with these mad people.
And I did get a bit emotional. I thought, ‘We’ll
never do this again’ – and I don’t want to either.
But it was marking a change in all our lives.
This has been a huge part of our lives, both
while we were doing it and while we were not
doing it. I’ll be talking about The Hobbit films
until I’m 90. It’s never going to go. But that last
day, I was relieved and surprisingly choked up.
As people were coming up to me and saying
goodbye, you could see a glassiness in their
eyes too.
I suddenly realised I've spent
a good chunk of my life with these
mad people. And I did get a bit
emotional [on the last day]
MARTIN FREEMAN's incredible journey as Bilbo Baggins
comes to an end in The Battle of the Five Armies.