Martin Freeman Describes the Challenges of Playing Richard III

Martin Freeman as Richard III.
Image from The Telegraph.
In the Philadelphia Daily News, Martin Freeman describes the challenges of playing Richard III, the role he took on after he finished playing Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's Hobbit:
"Just the physical toll of speaking those many words, that many lines, is hard. Then there's the [disfigured] body, and the limp, and the using one arm, and killing your wife and all that - just punching out that many lines is a challenge, and doing that eight times a week . . ." Freeman paused to consider the tone of his remarks, then laughed. "It's all well worth it, of course."
Freeman said he marvels that his older "Hobbit" co-star and Shakespearean specialist Ian McKellen was able to play Richard at a later stage in life. Freeman played Richard at 43, McKellen at 53.

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