Show Arts Entertainment Office Drone Takes Off in Hitchhikers Hitchhiker's Guide M Alona Special to The Washington Post Afew tidbits about British actor Martin Freeman star of the new film The Hitchhikers Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy He is a habitual nail-biter nail whose fingernails fingernails fingernails fin fin- are gnawed perfectly straight across He He and his girlfriend own a miniature longhaired dachshund named Archie He occasionally suffers from eczema This information might have been more interesting to some readers if Freeman resembled Brad Pitt or Jude Law or any other hunky Hollywood leading leading leading lead lead- ing man But Freeman isn't that kind of actor He first came to prominence in the British television comedy series The TheOffice TheOffice TheOffice Office playing Tim Canterbury a rumpled rumpled rumpled rum rum- pled and slightly doughy underachiever stuck in the soul-crushing soul tedium of a paper-goods paper office In Hitchhiker Freeman portrays another unglamorous guy ordinary earthling Arthur Dent who finds himself yanked into an extraordinary extraordinary extraordinary nary intergalactic adventure Freeman 33 has played plenty of other roles but Everyman characters to be his forte Im seem a year odd old white man from England and I think everyone's got only so much range he says And if you look like me me i.e. ie i.e. fairly fairly fairly fair fair- ly average if youre you're a fairly normal look ing person person youre youre you're not gonna get cast as James Bond Midway through a day of Hitchhiker interviews Freeman is holed up in an upper-floor upper hotel suite Hes He's wearing jeans a Levis Levi's jacket over a Penguin polo shirt and an looking exhausted-looking pair of Converse sneakers that were once white In the first minutes of Hitchhiker Arthur Dent wakes up with a massive yawn and bumps his head on the way to his kitchen where he promptly bums burns his toast He then looks out the window to see bulldozers converged around his house which has been slated for demolition demolition demolition demoli demoli- tion to make way for a new highway A Afew Afew Afew few minutes later he finds himself in an alien spacecraft and for the remainder of the film Freemans Freeman's wardrobe consists of ofa a fuzzy green bathrobe two T shirts striped pajama pants and bedroom slip slip- pers Even Eyen for an actor in a movie embarking on space outer-space adventures in a pair of bedroom y slippers might be tricky but the films film's costume J department was was e eup up to the challenge chal chat E lenge They put some sort of stunt t en traction on t the h e Q c i c bottom so they weren't so as they would be normally says 1 Freeman But the o 0 actor found that I a a. even his fortified 9 c o s slippers 1 were easily easily 5 ily destroyed N Your slippers last lasta a lot longer in Q your bedroom On Ona t ta r ra F a film set they doget doget do doget get very scuffed For British actor Martin Freeman star of the new film u up The Hitchhikers Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Everyman characters characters charac charac- The role of Dent seem to be his forte Im a year old white man manfrom presented other from England and I think everyone's got only so much challenges as well range he says during an interview in New York And if Douglas Adams' Adams you look like me youre you're not gonna get cast as James JamesH H Hitchhikers i t c h h i k e r s Bond Guide series has 1 LL L L Lu sold millions of copies around the world since the late and the science fic tion books have attracted a certain kind of fervent fan Expectations would be high For some people this is going to be belike belike belike like sacrilege if its it's perceived to have got it wrong says Freeman But I couldn't go to work with that feeling and I couldn't couldn't couldn't could could- nt really go and do my job if I was paying paying paying pay pay- ing too much mind to that I just tried to play him in the best way I could That way was not merely impersonating ing Simon Jones the veteran actor who played Dent in a 1981 British television version Instead Freeman focused on finding a balance between the storys story's comedy and tragedy Within the first 10 minutes of the film Earth is demolished to make way for an intergalactic express express- way Everything Arthur Dent has ever I 1 known or ur thought he ne knew Knew has nas been destroyed I mean wiped At the same time youre you're acting in a comedy you can only be so serious says Freeman But I think its it's got to matter I think for the audience its it's got to matter that this man and us have just lost our planet in the first 10 minutes of the film Freeman remembers reading The Hitchhikers Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as a teen-ager teen but he wasn't bowled over I Iwas Iwas Iwas was at an age when it either kind of hooked you in or it didn't and it didn't he says That wasn't really where I was wasat wasat wasat at when I was 13 Where was he at He pauses Um Urn honestly Yes honestly George Orwell I suppose Animal See Hitchhiker continued on page 10 19 Hitchhiker continued from page 9 Farm Farm Homage to Catalonia I liked all his stuff I read Animal Farm when I Iwas Iwas Iwas was 11 II and it remained my favorite book really Freeman grew up in the London suburb suburb suburb sub sub- urb of the youngest of five siblings As a child he suffered asthma attacks serious enough to require hospitalization hospi- hospi Still he became an avid squash player in his teens He also developed a passion for far- far left politics but his interests soon shift shift- ed By 18 he was involved in youth theater theater theater the the- ater he says so my focus was more on acting as opposed to bringing around bloody revolution He attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and left early for a year-long year stint at the National Theatre After that he did stage and television work and also dabbled dabbled dabbled dab dab- bled in music playing bongo drums in clubs and cafes Filming for The Office a highly regarded mock documentary began in 2001 The understated comedy which subtly captures the misery of having to work for and with stupid and unbearable unbearable unbearable able people became a surprise hit in the UK and gained a cult following here inthe in inthe inthe the United States An American adaptation adaptation adaptation adap adap- tation airs on NBC on Tuesday nights Its a funny thing The Office because millions and millions and milo mil mil- o lions and millions of people didn't watch it says Freeman But culturally cultural cultural- ly it is more of a phenomenon than almost anything else I can remember as asfar asfar asfar far as British television is concerned Part of what made the original Office so compelling was the undiluted ed unpleasantness of its characters I think it had a bit more guts than other shows that have gone into that format says Freeman It was more uncomfortable able to watch than a lot of things on television are are Perhaps the most sympathetic character charac charac- ter on the show Tim is smart enough to perceive the hideousness of his workplace workplace workplace work work- place but he lacks the gumption to find finda a way out He is in effect a likable loser Lets face it says Freeman Everyone wants to sort of look after somebody and I think he was one of those people who women if they didn't outright want to sleep with him they wanted to look after him or coddle him or something Part of what made Tim so appealing was his long long held held and seemingly hopeless hopeless hopeless hope hope- less infatuation with the office receptionist receptionist recep recep- receptionist Dawn Lucy Davis Their romance turned Tim into an unlikely heartthrob and quickly spiraled into this millenniums millennium's version of the Elizabeth and Mr Darcy mania spawned by the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice minis- minis eries erics People talk about Tim and Dawn like one of the great love stories of our time says Freeman The success of The Office has brought Freeman more scripts and more attention but theres there's also a downside to playing playing play play- playing ing such a beloved indelible character Not long ago a British newspaper described Freemans Freeman's character in a historical miniseries about King Charles II as Tim in a wig dont don't If you ever run into Freeman mention that particular quip He lets loose a string of expletives We Ve are what we are he says I dont don't believe in any of the myth that you metamorphose into something else No you dont You are you with a different expletive frock on with different lines pretending for eight hours a day That is it it Since filming the first season of The TheOffice TheOffice TheOffice Office Freeman appeared as a boy B-boy in the movie Ali G and portrayed yet another regular guy inthe inthe in inthe the British ensemble comedy Love Actually In the latter he played a stand-in stand for porn movies and performed virtually all his scenes nude Its hard to be naked in front of people Its It's not in any way pleasant he says As a man it gives you a kind of window of what quite a lot of jobs are like for quite a lot of women women He still lives in London with his girlfriend girlfriend girlfriend girl girl- friend Amanda Abbington who is an actress and Archie the dachshund Upcoming projects include a new play at London's Soho Theatre He also plays a leading role in a comedy series The Robinsons that will soon air on the BBC Im attracted to parts where people have to struggle a bit or parts where people are flawed or parts where people dont don't get their own way Its It's just way more interesting Because theres there's some some- thing to play against against something to overcome says Freeman I cant can't imagine ever wanting to do a part where I lounge around on a yacht with a cocktail cocktail cocktail cock cock- tail in my unless hand something expletive horrible happens to me in inthe inthe inthe the second scene |