[Movies] Peter Jackson Says Martin Freeman Was His Only Choice For The Hobbit Lead
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.06.2012
He didn't have any other Bilbo in mind...
Peter Jackson has revealed that he only had one choice for the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Jackson spoke with THR and said that he didn't consider anyone else but Freeman for the role.
"Martin was the only person that we wanted for that role, and that was really before we met Martin," he said. "We knew him from The Office and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and we just felt he had qualities that would be perfect for Bilbo. The stuffy, repressed, English quality. He's a dramatic actor, he's not a comedian, but he has a talent for comedy."
He notes that he almost didn't get Freeman due to the actor's commitment to film Sherlock, saying, "We were in trouble. I was really panicking. I was having sleepless nights. We were probably six weeks away from the beginning of the shoot, and we hadn't settled on anyone else, and I was torturing myself by watching Sherlock on an iPad at four o'clock in the morning."
