Martin Freeman News

[Carol the Dabbler]

This just in from Radio Times:

 

 

 

Sherlock's Martin Freeman and Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville are teaming up to bring children a bit of Christmas magic this year, as they lend their voices to BBC1's special festive adaptation of picture book Stick Man.

 

Freeman and Bonneville played brothers in the sitcom series The Robinsons.  The cast of Stick Man also includes Russell Tovey (Henry Knight from "Hounds of Baskerville").

 

 

 

Stick Man lives in the family tree with his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three, and he's heading on an epic adventure across the seasons.

 

As he’s taken further and further from home, he runs from a playful dog, gets thrown in a river, escapes from a swan’s nest and even ends up on top of a fire. Will he get back to his family in time for Christmas?

 

Did Moftiss base their concept of John Watson on Stick Man?  We've already seen him face the dog and the fire -- did I miss the river and the swan's nest, or do we still have those to look forward to?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Release dates for Mr. Freeman's upcoming films:

 

Midnight of My Life (an 8-minute UK short with Freeman in the title role) -- this October (in the UK)

-- does anyone know more about this short? this is the first I've heard of it.

 

Captain America: Civil War (a US feature film) -- late April / early May 2016, depending on where you live

 

Fun House (AKA Taliban Shuffle, a US feature film) -- 2016 (currently in post-production)

 

Funny Cow (a UK feature film) -- still in pre-production, no release dates announced

 

There I go trusting IMDb again.  According to this article, Freeman was in Los Angeles as of three days ago, "finishing a movie called Fun House with Tina Fey."  And this photo collection (including two of Freeman) confirms that he was indeed in LA on October 8th.

[Arcadia]

You mean you think that means "Fun House" is still filming and not in post-production? Maybe he was doing voice-overs or something like that, though ... I think that would be considered post production. (?)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, good point.  You'd think (we'll, I'd think, anyhow) that he could do ADR just as well in London, but maybe they prefer to keep it all in the same studio.  Or maybe they wanted a few pickup shots, or even a whole new scene.

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Could they be doing some of the promo shots as well?

[Carol the Dabbler]

True.  Or it's possible that he was in LA for something else entirely, and that one article got it wrong (maybe even just guessed).

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

According to The Mirror:

 

Hobbit star Martin Freeman has made a direct appeal to David Cameron to ban wild animal acts in circuses.  The dad-of-two wrote a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to honour a pledge to end the practice.

 

Huffington Post has a though-provoking response to Freeman's letter -- and some of the reader comments are interesting as well.

 

[J.P.]

I find it amazing that the comments are so civilized. You don't see it very often.

 

Still not fully convinced, nor am I a fan of circus per se (maybe with the exception of Cirque de Soleil) but on the other hand my problems with many "activists" are that they don't do their research.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think it's safe to say that the issue is more complex than most of us (perhaps including Martin Freeman) were aware.  Apparently things have improved greatly (at least in the UK) over the past few decades.

 

[Arcadia]

True.  Or it's possible that he was in LA for something else entirely, and that one article got it wrong (maybe even just guessed).

No! The media never guesses...!

[Carol the Dabbler]

According to this article, Freeman was in Los Angeles as of three days ago....  And this photo collection (including two of Freeman) confirms that he was indeed in LA on October 8th.

 

Whatever he was there for, it apparently didn't take long.  He was in LA on the 8th, with the beginnings of a beard (which can be seen close-up in the shot of him taking a picture) -- and then he was in London on the 12th with what looks to me like slightly more of the same beard.  Wonder if he's growing it for a role?  If so, it's apparently something we haven't yet heard about.

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Do we know when Funny Cow is supposed to start filming?  It's possible it could be for that role.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Last I heard, Funny Cow was still in pre-production, but this was posted in March on a Maxine Peake website (official or fan-run, I don't know):  "The film is being shot in Sheffield this autumn."  And if things haven't changed, that would be just about now.  So yeah, could be!

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Or we have Martin's version of the following:

 

John: Just trying it out.

MRS HUDSON: Well, it ages you.

 

only without really aging him.

[Carol the Dabbler]

There's a new film with Martin Freeman being released (on DVD) this coming Saturday -- one that I'd heard nothing about (it's not on IMDb) till Google brought up this article for me just now.

 

Mr. Freeman narrates Tubby Hayes: A Man in a Hurry, a documentary about a seminal but now little-appreciated English jazz musician.  The DVD is available for pre-order on Amazon (UK), and the official trailer is on YouTube.

[Carol the Dabbler]

And the busy man stars in a new music video!

 

[Arcadia]

I like the song, and why is this the first time I've ever heard of Paul Weller?

[Carol the Dabbler]

This announcement of the video has more to add:

 

 

 

The video features actor Martin Freeman, a well known fan who recently contributed to the excellent Jam documentary About The Young Idea, which coincided with the London exhibition and compilation album of the same name.

 

Do any of you know anything about that?

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Release dates for Mr. Freeman's upcoming films:

 

Midnight of My Life (an 8-minute UK short with Freeman in the title role) -- this October (in the UK)

-- does anyone know more about this short? this is the first I've heard of it.

 

Captain America: Civil War (a US feature film) -- late April / early May 2016, depending on where you live

 

Fun House (AKA Taliban Shuffle, a US feature film) -- 2016 (currently in post-production)

 

Funny Cow (a UK feature film) -- still in pre-production, no release dates announced

 

We now have a release date for Fun House (or Taliban Shuffle, or whatever they end up actually calling it) -- March 4th in the US, according to multiple sources, including IMDb (which also lists a Russian release date of March 26th.

[Carol the Dabbler]

TONIGHT:  Those of you in the UK can see Martin Freeman (and a bunch of other celebrities, including Star Wars veteran Warwick Davis) in a Star Wars sketch (BBC1, 8:30-9:00 pm).  The show is in support of Children in Need.

 

 

Hopefully this will eventually make its way to an internationally-viewable website!

 

[J.P.]

it did.

For me Martins impersonation reminds me more of JarJar than Yoda. :D

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

For me Martins impersonation reminds me more of JarJar than Yoda. :D

 

 

 

Judging by the dialog, it was supposed to be bad, in which case he succeeded admirably.  (Sounded more Jamaican than Jar Jar to me, though.)

 

[Arcadia]

 

 

For me Martins impersonation reminds me more of JarJar than Yoda. :D

 

 

 

Judging by the dialog, it was supposed to be bad, in which case he succeeded admirably.  (Sounded more Jamaican than Jar Jar to me, though.)

 

 

 

 

It was lovely to see Warwick Davis again. His JamJarYoda was pretty bad/good/awful too, I thought. :p

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

What I would like to know is, was that really Anthony Daniels in the C3PO suit?  To me, the character sounded like him and more or less moved like him, but of course it could have been someone "doing" him.  Much harder to tell with R2D2!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Martin Freeman is championing the North London Hospice because he was greatly impressed with it during the recent illness of (apparently) a family member.  (Una Stubbs and Steven Moffat also attended a recent fundraiser for it.)