Martin Freeman On Filming Riddles in The Dark

In an interview with i09.com, Martin Freeman discusses filming the "Riddles in the Dark" scene that first introduced Gollum and his discovered of a gold ring. Highlights below, full interview here.

How did Peter Jackson direct you to handle the ring?
Martin Freeman: With curiosity, I think. That was what we kind of went for. When I first see it, when it drops out of Gollum's pouch in the goblin tunnels, to just literally notice it and go "oh." It's just a flash of color in this dark place. A flash of gold. And as I get closer just to have curiosity and not to imbue it with a great kind of force or a sense of epic-ness. Like a trinket. Then there's something magpie-ish about Bilbo and he thinks, oh I'll have that that might come in handy. But there's no sense of a semi religious import.

What did you discover after shooting the Gollum meets Bilbo scene [straight through with minimal cuts] for a whole week?
I just think there was just was a character. I think that's how it changed, I went from not having one… The difference was at the end of that, I had something now. And it was a great scene to do because it required reaction. So it was very helpful, actually. It was a good scene. On one hand it was jumping into the deep end. But that's the only place you can go in.

It doesn't feel cheated. It's weird. All that cave, there was a lot that was real. We were shooting in a place that was physically there. And a big lake! Beyond from where we were standing it was a a panorama of green. But from our stage it was a lot of rock. It felt real. Andy feels real. Obviously he doesn't look like Gollum, strictly speaking, but he's being Gollum. And I'm an animal of the theater and you're used to using your imagination. You don't have to use your imagination that much when you hear that voice and see the physicality you think oh, "there's Gollum, there's a man or a creature that wants to eat me." It didn't feel very cheated at all. Gollum is such a beloved character. There's a special place in people's hearts for Gollum I think. People who love the books and the films are delighted he's in this, I think.