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Authors: Neil Daniels
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reasonable box-office success but garnered mixed reviews from critics. It had a strong start in the US with a $21.2 million opening debut but tailed off in latter weeks. It peaked atNumber One at the US box office, ahead of the Ice Cube action thriller XXX: State of the Union .
Asked by Cindy Pearlman of the Chicago Sun-Times if it is important for an actor to have a hit movie in the States, Freeman responded, ‘There are two schools of thought. Some think if you haven’t made it in America, then you’re a bum. Some think, “What do they know over there?” I just care that I’ve made a good film because in a few days, I’ll either be a prick or a hero to fans of the work. I’ll either be a star or it will be “Martin who?” But in the end ultimately you have to sleep with yourself and be proud on your deathbed.’
Some commented that the film tries too hard to be too British, which alienated audiences around the world, notably in the US.
‘There’s a long standing tradition that America takes something, doesn’t quite understand it and changes it into something they do understand,’ Freeman explained to Movie Web ’s Julian Roman. ‘I’m happy to report that from my experience here, that doesn’t apply. I would defy anyone to see it and think that not everyone has been cast right.’
During the making of the film, M.J. Simpson, the author of the Douglas Adams biography Hitchhiker and former Deputy Editor of SFX magazine, gave the film a scathing online review, to which Freeman responded in an interview with the BBC’s Alana Lee, ‘You know, fair play to M.J Simpson. I couldn’t say he doesn’t have a right to the opinion, of course he does. And I’ve met him. He’s a nice guy. But, ultimately, he’s also a grown man who wears a Darth Vader tie. Norman Mailer he ain’t.’
Freeman didn’t pay too much attention to the fan scrutinybut he was more than well aware that many fans are often disappointed by big-screen adaptations. He knew the creative team had come up with a script that was faithful to the book but he also acknowledged that the finished film wasn’t going to please every single fan.
Some fans were dubious about the film version, thinking that Adams’s humour would not translate too well and that the story is best left to literature; other fans were excited about the big-screen adventure. The overall opinion after the film’s release was a split down the middle. In hindsight, perhaps the consensus was not so positive but the film has slowly become accepted by a larger audience of Adams fans.
‘For some people this is going to be like sacrilege if it’s perceived to have got it wrong,’ said Freeman to the Washington Post ’s Alona Wartofsky. ‘But I couldn’t go to work with that feeling, and I couldn’t really go and do my job if I was paying too much mind to that. I just… tried to play him in the best way I could.’
Freeman and the rest of the cast and crew received very positive feedback from Adams’s family – his widow and son. They hadn’t made a perfect film by any means, as the critical response can attest, but they were respectful to the script Adams had left. Freeman even caught up with Adams’s family at the film’s premiere and they were delighted with the outcome.
So what did the critics think of the finished product?
Writing in The Guardian , Peter Bradshaw said, ‘Martin Freeman (Tim from The Office ) is inspired casting as Dent, and delivers exactly the right note of futile English sarcasm in the face of complete and utter planetary destruction. His best friend, the oddly named Ford Prefect, tips him off aboutwhat is about to happen; together they escape and hitch-hike across the Milky Way, armed with their invaluable book, the Hitchhiker’s Guide , voiced with lucid serenity by Stephen Fry.’
Darren Waters wrote on BBC Movies , ‘Despite outstanding production design and some fantastic visual effects, overall the film is a bit of a mess. A
Asked by Cindy Pearlman of the Chicago Sun-Times if it is important for an actor to have a hit movie in the States, Freeman responded, ‘There are two schools of thought. Some think if you haven’t made it in America, then you’re a bum. Some think, “What do they know over there?” I just care that I’ve made a good film because in a few days, I’ll either be a prick or a hero to fans of the work. I’ll either be a star or it will be “Martin who?” But in the end ultimately you have to sleep with yourself and be proud on your deathbed.’
Some commented that the film tries too hard to be too British, which alienated audiences around the world, notably in the US.
‘There’s a long standing tradition that America takes something, doesn’t quite understand it and changes it into something they do understand,’ Freeman explained to Movie Web ’s Julian Roman. ‘I’m happy to report that from my experience here, that doesn’t apply. I would defy anyone to see it and think that not everyone has been cast right.’
During the making of the film, M.J. Simpson, the author of the Douglas Adams biography Hitchhiker and former Deputy Editor of SFX magazine, gave the film a scathing online review, to which Freeman responded in an interview with the BBC’s Alana Lee, ‘You know, fair play to M.J Simpson. I couldn’t say he doesn’t have a right to the opinion, of course he does. And I’ve met him. He’s a nice guy. But, ultimately, he’s also a grown man who wears a Darth Vader tie. Norman Mailer he ain’t.’
Freeman didn’t pay too much attention to the fan scrutinybut he was more than well aware that many fans are often disappointed by big-screen adaptations. He knew the creative team had come up with a script that was faithful to the book but he also acknowledged that the finished film wasn’t going to please every single fan.
Some fans were dubious about the film version, thinking that Adams’s humour would not translate too well and that the story is best left to literature; other fans were excited about the big-screen adventure. The overall opinion after the film’s release was a split down the middle. In hindsight, perhaps the consensus was not so positive but the film has slowly become accepted by a larger audience of Adams fans.
‘For some people this is going to be like sacrilege if it’s perceived to have got it wrong,’ said Freeman to the Washington Post ’s Alona Wartofsky. ‘But I couldn’t go to work with that feeling, and I couldn’t really go and do my job if I was paying too much mind to that. I just… tried to play him in the best way I could.’
Freeman and the rest of the cast and crew received very positive feedback from Adams’s family – his widow and son. They hadn’t made a perfect film by any means, as the critical response can attest, but they were respectful to the script Adams had left. Freeman even caught up with Adams’s family at the film’s premiere and they were delighted with the outcome.
So what did the critics think of the finished product?
Writing in The Guardian , Peter Bradshaw said, ‘Martin Freeman (Tim from The Office ) is inspired casting as Dent, and delivers exactly the right note of futile English sarcasm in the face of complete and utter planetary destruction. His best friend, the oddly named Ford Prefect, tips him off aboutwhat is about to happen; together they escape and hitch-hike across the Milky Way, armed with their invaluable book, the Hitchhiker’s Guide , voiced with lucid serenity by Stephen Fry.’
Darren Waters wrote on BBC Movies , ‘Despite outstanding production design and some fantastic visual effects, overall the film is a bit of a mess. A
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