When Bilbo and Gollum Meet

In an interview for Empire Magazine's current issue, Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Andy Serkis (Gollum) talk about filming the first time Bilbo and Gollum meet in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and when Bilbo discovers a certain ring in the cave. The scene is essential the critical prequel moment for The Lord of the Rings trilogy as it explains how Bilbo gets the ring and why Gollum knows who the Baggins are.

Freeman: "In the normal run of things, there'd be quite a lot going on for me. I've got ears, the wig and the feet, which three more things than an actor normally has… But then I look over at the dwarves and see what they're lugging! They're absolute troopers."

Freeman: "It wasn’t in my orbit at all. I’m not sure it would have been very helpful if I’d always wanted to play Bilbo Baggins. I’d have come up against someone else’s vision. We’re taking the work seriously, but when we’re looking up at tennis balls that are meant to be trolls, it’s got to be fun."

Freeman: "The first thing I filmed was finding the ring in Gollum's cave. It's good to know, but not play, the importance of the Ring. I'm trying to put a bit more heaviness into it. It's not all comical."

Andy: "It was great for Martin to start off with that chamber piece. He could find Bilbo within the confines of a one-on-one scene. It was almost stranger for me: for the first couple of days it felt like I was doing an impersonation!"

(from ComicbookMovie via iO9)