By all outward appearances, making "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" was a wonderful experience for the cast and crew involved (just watch any of those production videos released by director Peter Jackson for examples of camaraderie). There was one thing, however, that star Martin Freeman could have done without: hot days mixed with hobbit feet.
"The big feet kind of inform part of your physicality, and your physicality informs how you play the part," Freeman reveals in a new Blu-ray extra revealed exclusively by E! Online. "You literally can't walk in a way that you would normally walk." As J.R.R. Tolkien fans know, hobbits have notoriously big feet, which means the actors playing those roles -- Freeman, Elijah Wood and Ian Holm among others -- had to be fitted with prosthetic footwear. According to the star, it was easy to apply the feet, but things would take a turn for the worse when the thermometer reached higher levels.
"It's quite unpleasant, actually. If it's a hot day, it gets sweaty," the actor quipped in the new clip.
Freeman, known for his television roles in the original version of "The Office" and "Sherlock," was cast to play the young version of Bilbo Baggins in Jackson's "Hobbit" franchise. The role gave the 41-year-old star his biggest exposure to date.
"You won’t be surprised to hear I don’t think of it in those terms," he told the Wall Street Journal in December when asked about his upcoming "world domination." "If I sat here and thought 'Any minute now I am going to be a worldwide star' that would be a form of insanity. But it is weird doing something on this scale, because most people never get to do that. I've done a few big films but nothing like this, seeing my face everywhere."
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box office. Freeman will star in the two upcoming sequels, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" and "The Hobbit: There And Back Again."
For more from the behind-the-scenes video, head over to E! Online.
[via E!]
