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Martin Freeman in FX's "Fargo"


Carol the Dabbler

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From Sherlockology's Metro blog:

 

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It was a question we’d been wondering about for a little while, and even in the middle of last week were openly discussing amongst ourselves following a trawl of the Internet Movie Database – just what will Martin Freeman do next?

 

Ironically, a couple of days later we had our answer. He is the co-lead alongside Billy Bob Thornton in a ten part ‘limited series’ (that is, a series with no expectation of subsequent seasons) for US cable network FX, based on the 1996 Coen Brothers classic Fargo.

 

The Hobbit Trilogy has dominated Freeman’s life for much of the last three years, as it did for the actors of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy a decade ago.

 

For many of that cast, the next project they took was the crucial next step after such a consistent, and probably exhausting, run of acting work of playing the same character for such an extended length of time.

 

The Hobbit was of course different from the earlier trilogy, with scheduled breaks in production allowing Martin to fit in John Watson twice(!) for Sherlock series two and three, as well as work on John Hardwick’s Svengali and Edgar Wright’s The World’s End.

 

This new project ticks the boxes perfectly for Freeman, one of the nicest and most down to earth actors you could ever hope to meet.

 

US cable television is a truly eye catching place to be these days. With the emergence of the new limited series format across the US networks pushing mere ‘mini-series’ into the realms of event television with a wider audience, and attracting even more star names to the small screen who would normally only be associated with movie projects.

 

Thus the restricted length of Fargo is probably a significant factor to the incredibly loyal Freeman, a man who initially turned down playing Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit as it conflicted with his upcoming work on Sherlock. In the event of Sherlock being re-commissioned for a possible fourth series, he wouldn’t be tied to a lengthy US style series order at the same time.

 

Fargo is an ambitious step for the FX network as it enters the increasingly popular format of the limited series for the first time.

 

Based on a classic film property, it’s doubtless setting out to be a television prestige piece while retaining the dark quirkiness of the Coen’s original, and Martin Freeman is of course perfectly placed to step into such a world.

 

And now we have an answer to ‘what will Martin Freeman do next?’ we now have a new major question of course – what will he sound like with a Minnesota accent?

 

 

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A few notes:

 

Although I'm not aware of Martin Freeman ever doing a Minnesota accent before, he did (according to reviews) do a good Chicago accent in a stage production (Clybourne Park) a few years back -- and the accents aren't all that dissimilar.  Also, I've heard him do a couple of other very credible American accents in Bruiser (note: the skits that he's in, which I consider to be generally the funniest in the show, are probably still available on YouTube).

 

Here's the IMDb listing for the FX television production of Fargo -- not much info there yet, but undoubtedly there will be more fairly soon.

 

I have seen Freeman's costar, Billy Bob Thornton, in only one thing so far, namely Love Actually -- which I watched because Freeman is also in it.  (They had no scenes together that time, however.)

 

And here's the IMDb listing for the 1996 movie Fargo.  They seem to have changed the names of the characters for the TV version, so I can't really say which one Freeman's character is analogous to (though I do have my suspicions).

 

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OK, now I get it.  This is all over the internet, and apparently they're not redoing the movie's plot, they're doing a new story with the same tone, in the same setting.  Or something like that.

 

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[Photo from Variety.]  According to Huffington Post, "the 10-episode miniseries will reportedly follow an all-new 'true crime' story, 'with a new case and characters all seeped in the humor, murder and "Minnesota nice" of the original,'" and Freeman's character is "an insurance salesman who has seen better days. Henpecked by his wife, his life is changed forever when a mysterious stranger [Thornton] comes to town."  (Freeman's character is similar to the one played by William H. Macy in the movie.)

 

This sounds like it could be very interesting.  I have notified Alex that we may need to get a satellite dish.

 

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I love Billy Bob Thornton.  I've seen him in "Sling Blade" and "Bad Santa", as well as some other movies.  I can already imagine what he will do to Martin's character XD  I can't wait to see what happens there.

 

And of course, I can't wait to hear Martin with a Minnesota accent, doncha know.

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So does Thornton always play a kinda creepy guy, or was that just for Love Actually?  From what you say, I'm guessing that he typically plays the sort of character that I can take only in small doses!

 

Freeman's character is named Lester Nygaard, which sounds like he's a typical small-town Minnesotan of Scandinavian descent, whereas Thornton's "mysterious stranger" is named Lorne Malvo, which doesn't suggest any particular origin to me.  Both men seem like good choices for their roles.

 

I've never seen the movie, but from what I've read, it sounds like a much darker version of Prairie Home Companion.  Like I said, should be interesting.

 

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The cast continues to grow, though one role I was expecting to be a biggie won't even be in the show:
 

... FX viewers shouldn't expect to see Minnesota sheriff Marge Gunderson, played by Frances McDormand, brought back to life.
 
"She's [Gunderson] not in it. It's not a retelling of the same story, because on so many levels that would be foolish," Roma Khanna, president of the television group and digital at MGM Studios, said Tuesday.... [quoted from >here<]

 
As for those who will be on our tv screens next spring:
 

FX has smartly grabbed a bit of “Breaking Bad’s” afterglow for its limited-series redo of “Fargo,” tapping Bob Odenkirk for a supporting role.
 
Glenn Howerton of FXX’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Kate Walsh and Oliver Platt are also joining Martin Freeman, Colin Hanks and Billy Bob Thornton in the adaptation of the Coen brothers’ 1996 pic. [quoted from >here<]

 
And behind the cameras,
 

The Academy Award-winning writer/director team of Joel and Ethan Coen are slated to executive produce, which does not necessarily mean they will be directly involved. IndieWire speculates that their roles will be “largely ceremonial.” No one else associated with the film is expected to be involved.
 
The website says the project will be an hour-long drama co-produced by MGM and FX, and would be “loosely based” on the film. [quoted from >here<]

 
>Internet Movie Database< lists the filming location as Calgary, Alberta, Canada (apparently doubling for Minneapolis, much as Toronto often doubles for Chicago in Canadian productions).

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  • 1 month later...

Production of Fargo started last week, according to the Calgary police, who are advising residents not to worry about "American police cars" prowling their streets.  The vehicles represent the cities of Bemidji and Duluth, Minnesota, where the series is set.

 

According to this article, filming is expected to continue till early April, so I'm guessing the previously-announced air date of "spring" may have been pushed back a bit -- unless earlier episodes start airing while later ones are still filming.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Finally we have a premiere date for this FX cable mini-series:  Tuesday, April 15 (which should somewhat ease the pain of filling out those tax forms) at 10 pm (9 central time).

 

That datum appears in several recent internet articles, including this interview with Martin Freeman, in which he offers some well-thought-out points about the potential pitfalls of doing a Minnesota accent, and about his involvement in Fargo.  (He also discusses Series 3 of Sherlock -- with mild spoilers for Episodes 1 and 2.)

 

Also see this article for a photo of the Fargo panel at a recent media event, and Freeman's thoughts on his possible involvement in any further seasons of the show.

 

And this article for the screenwriter's take on Freeman's character, as well as a picture from the show itself (a closeup of Freeman's and Billy Bob Thornton's characters).

 

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  • 1 month later...

They've released five teaser trailers for Fargo so far, all of which are accessible from this article.  The most recent one finally has Martin Freeman in it -- still no sample of his Minnesota accent, though, just this short scene of him sitting on a washing machine.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_t9C7_F-1E&feature=player_embedded

 

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And for all you British Freeman fans:
 

The ten-part series premieres in the US on FX in April and will come to Channel 4 soon afterwards.

 
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You can read the entire article here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a photo of Freeman's character (apparently in the police station) from the web site of MGM (they're co-producing the show):

 

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Different outfit, same bandage.

 

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Oh good, here's what I've been waiting for -- from Radio Times, Martin Freeman's Minnesota accent!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6jFU0r0xG_c

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fargo premieres on FX in just one week (Tuesday, April 15 at 10 pm), and there's a new Fargo-related interview with Martin Freeman on Yahoo.

 

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I think this part is particularly cool:

 

I have to ask about the accent. You're doing it right now! Do you feel like you need to keep it going, even off-camera?

 

When I'm at work, yeah. To get details and to get nuances, it's too hard to just go from London to Minnesota, you know, on "Action!" It would be a much more broad wash of sounds, as opposed to trying to get the details and stay in there. So yeah, from the minute I get in the car to the moment I wrap… and sometimes I just forget and carry on. While I'm being wrapped out of makeup, I'm still talking, and "Oh, I don't have to talk like this anymore!" [Laughs.] But it just becomes absolutely second nature, yeah.

 

You can read the entire interview and watch the first seven minutes of the show here.

 

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With less than a week to go till the 90-minute premiere episode, there's lots of Fargo news on the internet.  Here's an interesting new interview with Martin Freeman, plus chats with the writer and two other actors during an on-set visit by the New York Times, and a review of the pilot from Entertainment Weekly.

 

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Freeman's character is named Lester Nygaard, which sounds like he's a typical small-town Minnesotan of Scandinavian descent, whereas Thornton's "mysterious stranger" is named Lorne Malvo, which doesn't suggest any particular origin to me.

 

I've been thinking more about those names since writing the above, and would like to add the following:

 

Writer Noah Hawley seems to have a subtle knack for making names mean something.  While "Lester Nygaard" does indeed sound to me like a small-town Minnesotan, it also seems to echo "lesser" and "niggard," hinting at the character's ineffectual nature.  And while "Lorne Malvo" is a mysterious name for a mysterious stranger, it also suggests "lorn" and "malevolent," appropriate adjectives for an unsocial catalyst of evil.

 

Well, just four days till I'll be unable to watch the show.  (Please let a DVD be available soon!)

 

 

Added:  It turns out that the name "Nygaard" also provides an opportunity for the town bully to make a very rude pun.  Yes, that one.  So maybe "subtle" was the wrong word.

 

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Wish I could watch the 90-minute premiere tonight (at 10 pm and apparently again at 11:30) -- I'm almost tempted to drive up to Mom's for it, but not particularly keen on either driving home in the middle of the night or sleeping on her sofa.

 

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In case those of you in the UK haven't heard, this Digital Spy interview with Martin Freeman included this bit of news:

 

Martin Freeman stars in Fargo - starting this Sunday (April 20) at 9pm on Channel 4.

 

 

Alex and I haven't gotten a chance to see the premiere yet, but we're working on it -- probably in another week.

 

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Did anyone see this on channel 4 last night? It was absolutely fantastic! Very much in the tone of the original film (which is one of my favourites) and everyone in it is brilliant. 

I'm not an expert on Minnesota accents but as far as I could tell, Martin Freeman does a good job. He sounded like the others to these English ears. 

 

 

So does Thornton always play a kinda creepy guy, or was that just for Love Actually?  From what you say, I'm guessing that he typically plays the sort of character that I can take only in small doses!

 

 

 

Billy Bob Thornton played his part in that quiet, slightly disturbing way he has about him. Yes he plays a creepy character a lot but he has a quiet charm about him that works really well for this kind of role. I've met him briefly in real life and he does come across as a pretty quiet guy. He was very friendly though and also quiet humble.

His expression doesn't change much when he plays this kind of role, he talks very quietly and grabs all the focus from the other character so they're closely involved before they know it. He's very good at doing that detached kind of thing, where he could be talking about the weather or killing someone without changing tone at all. It's very disturbing and works really well for this role. I'm sounding like a Billy Bob fangirl now, which I guess I am. He's one of my favourite actors.

 

So, if anyone hasn't seen this yet, I recommend it. If you like dark humour you'll love it. It's very funny. I just hope the rest of the series is as good as the first episode. It's one of the best first episodes I've ever seen and looks likely to be in my 'best TV of all time' list.  

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Thank you for your personal review, Riddle!  Now I'm even more keen to see it myself (and I'll be missing another episode tonight).

 

As far as I know, few if any of the cast are actually from Minnesota (ditto the movie), so pretty much everyone's faking it.  I've heard that they did really good accents in the movie (which I have not seen), so if the television accents sound like the movie accents to you, they're presumably right on.  It's been decades since I was in Minnesota, and even then I was mostly in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) area.  Bemidji is 175 miles north, so I'd guess that the accent is noticeably different.  (In English terms, if the Twin Cities represent London, then Bemidji is Manchester.)

 

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I loved the movie and must admit I was avoiding this on the dvd but watching as I post and so far it's just as good if not better.

 

When did Billy Bob get hot?

 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

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DVD?  Did I miss something, or are you talking about your whatchacallit -- home recording machine?

 

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Thanks, Rose.  Guess I haven't missed anything after all.

 

And speaking of not missing anything, Alex downloaded the first two episodes from Amazon, and we watched them yesterday.  I liked them better than he did -- his whimsey threshold is pretty low (especially with dark whimsey like this), whereas I love the stuff.  Not saying that Fargo could ever replace Sherlock for me, but I'm enjoying it.  (And I did catch Alex laughing a time or two during the second episode.)

 

Even though I haven't heard a real-life Minnesota accent in ages, Alex has been there on a few recent business trips.  He says Martin Freeman does the accent better than anyone else in the show (and in fact sounds a whole lot like one fellow he's met on those trips).  He thinks some of the other characters sound more like Canadians (which some of the actors undoubtedly are, considering that the show is filmed in Alberta) -- not that the accents are all that different, since Bemidji is only about 100 miles from the border.

 

It took me a little while to deal with that accent coming out of that familiar face, but I am loving Martin Freeman's performance.  I particularly enjoyed Lester's chain of reactions right after

he hits his wife on the forehead with the hammer.

 

 

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