Freeman: The Hobbit "Very Daunting"

All signs indicate that The Hobbit is on schedule to begin principle photography on February 14th. Peter Jackson is currently recovering from his perforated stomach ulcer at home and reports indicate that Hobbiton has been closed from the public in preparation for filming. Meanwhile, Martin Freeman is getting closer to the "daunting" task of taking on the famous role of Bilbo Baggins.

“It’s very daunting – the daunting part is leaving home… I’m a real homebody, even before we had children, I was a homebody, so with children it’s like aww… I’m very excited though,” he told Modcast host Eddie Piller.

Martin initially turned down the role because of his commitments to the BBC detective drama. “I had to turn it down because of being contractually obliged to do the second series of Sherlock for the BBC, which we are doing in the middle of this year,” he recalled. ”I turned it down with a very heavy heart because things like this don’t come your way very often. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as far as scale is concerned. It’s a huge, huge deal. But I was contracted to do Sherlock. I wanted to do both. When I found out I couldn’t do both it was very sad. And then it was very flattering when Peter Jackson rearranged the filming around my availability.”