The Hooksexup Film Lounge: Q&A: Martin Freeman


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We are witnessing the rise of the sad-sack as sex symbol, and one could argue that Martin Freeman launched the ascent six years ago as the wry, endearingly unhappy Tim Canterbury on Britain's The Office. Since then, we've fallen in love with similarly schlubby characters — Simon Pegg's aimless-loser-turned-zombie-thrasher in Shaun of the Dead, nasally and bespectacled Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman — but Freeman remains the gold standard for pasty, unkempt lovability.

His latest project, The Good Night, continues his transition into feature film. He plays Gary Sheller, a downtrodden musician stuck in a volatile relationship and eking out a tepid existence. Freeman spoke to Hooksexup about why he'd rather not be the sexy sad-sack posterboy, why he's steering clear of L.A. and his own real-life dead-end jobs. — Alexis Tirado

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Could you relate to your character in The Good Night?
I don't think he was a failed musician. He was just a musician frustrated with his life. I think everyone is frustrated with their life at some point. They think they should be doing something else. Doing as well as their friends. All those things really resonated.

Especially in New York, where it's a rat race and everyone wants a cool job.
I'm from London, where it's the same. There's a massive artistic community and massive cultural life. It's also massively expensive to live here and very unfair. Like Gary, lots of people are attracted to a place like New York. For British people, the first thing anyone asks you is, "When are you going to America?" As an actor: "When are you going to Hollywood?" It becomes this riff.

Are you ever going to move to Los Angeles?
I have no plans to move to L.A. It's not important to me. Acting is very important, but L.A. is as important as fucking cleaning windows at night.

I've lived quite well without a swimming pool or an all-year suntan.

Actors like you — Simon Pegg, Seth Rogen — you're depicted as schlubby sex symbols. How do you feel about that?
Well, it's not great, to be honest. As soon as you're branded anything, that's not great. It's just another lazy way of marketing people. If you look out your window, most people in the world don't look like Brad Pitt, but they all have wives. The whole idea of, "Paul Giamatti is kind of sexy." Well, yeah he's sexy. Ask his fucking wife or anyone he's ever laid.

Is it surprising? No, because attraction doesn't come from abs and pecs. It comes from somewhere else altogether. If Penelope Cruz was a shit actress, no one would fancy her. It's that simple. Because the actresses who are beautiful and act like shit are going to be forgotten in about five days. So it's double-edged sword, because people are like, "Hey, you're sexy! But you're kind of ugly!" I'm not supposed to be happy about that.

Have you ever received any strange correspondence from a fan?
I suppose the connotation is different for men. If most men received a sexual letter in the mail they'd be patting each other on the back. If women get a sexual letter in the mail they're calling the fucking police. People do scream [on the street.] But people are quite easily impressed. If they see George Bush on the telly and then they see him on the street, they're like, "Hey! I just saw you on the telly!" There's only so much compliment you can take when people get excited to see you on the street.

It seems like you're attracted to characters that have dead-end careers — Gary in The Good Night is an unsuccessful musician, Tim in The Office is a boring sales rep, and Jack is a porn actor in Love Actually. Have you had a lot of dead-end jobs?

I've done lots of kitchen portering. Bus boy. I've done that a lot.

Is that what you call busing tables in England? Kitchen portering?
Yes. The thing is, dead-end jobs don't reflect my personal experience. But the thing of feeling like [Gary's lifeless existence] absolutely reflects me. I don't think it's a massive stretch for a human being to feel like Hitler or feel like Jesus. I just think it's in all of us. But for me, it's not that weird. It's about me being attracted to those roles. But also, those are the roles that come to me. Mission: Impossible is already taken, you know?

You wouldn't want to do action films?
It's not that. I can't see that people would ever ask me to do it. I'm not famous enough. I'm not box-office enough. I can run and I'm fit, but there are some people better suited to that. Also, I don't want to play the guy in the yacht with no problems. That's certainly not a reflection of my life. As a person, I'm not smooth, do you know what I mean? I can't do smooth very easily.

What other projects do you have coming up?
I have a film, Nightwatching, coming up. It's about Rembrandt. And I have a Channel Four comedy coming out in England called Other People which is very funny. I play someone who used to be a child star in the '80s.

You loved the troubled roles.
They love me.


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