Martin Freeman was turned down for The Lovely Bones
But the actor remains coy over whether he would ever play Bilbo Baggins.
Martin Freeman, and easily the most talented guy to come out of the U.K's version of The Office (yes, that includes you too Gervais) has revealed to MTV Movies Blog that he was in the running for a role in The Lovely Bones but was subsequently turned down. Although I can't say for sure, the role was probably that of the husband to Rachel Weisz's character Abigail, a part which eventually went to the more conventional Hollywood star, the handsome Ryan Gosling. Although, I guess it could have been for the role of the detective in charge of the case, a role which eventually went to Michael Imperioli but Freeman as a cop is a hard sell. It certainly wouldn't have been for the role of the murderer, which eventually went to Stanley Tucci. That would have been really trippy, one of the guys who generally plays the nicest guy in any movie he is in, suddenly has a turn as a serial killer? That would have been quite a shock. Maybe it was another role that just hasn't been announced yet. MTV, interestingly quizzed the actor on The Hobbit and they suggested he would be the perfect actor to play the younger version of Bilbo Baggins as played by Ian Holm in The Lord of the Rings. Actually ya know, that would be a pretty cool choice actually but the actor says he has not spoken to Peter Jackson about it and he was being rather coy on whether he had any interest in doing it or not...
Ill cross that trolls bridge when I come to it!I love the idea. Anyone who has seen The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy will know that Freeman is great as the wandering adventurer, it sure would be interesting to see what he could do as Bilbo. Freeman always has a terrific energy on screen, I think they could do an awful lot worse than him if this project ever gets made.