#which I think shares some DNA with ghosts as a classic BBC comedy

[free-martinis]

Martin Freeman arrives at the Lucca Film Festival and the city moves to the premiere of Ghost Stories . The English horror, already revelation at home, will arrive in Italian theaters on April 19th with Adler Entertainment . Meanwhile, the festival pays homage to it with an exclusive preview, immediately sold out, and a spectacle-themed show (of which you can see some photos in the gallery that follows) Ghost: Art Noir . Despite the shy Freeman has repeatedly declared to detest selfies, autographs and all the rites of notoriety, the heat towards him is felt and he reciprocates with generosity giving himself to fans on a red carpet wet, but full of admirers.

After the passage to Rome, the star of Lo Hobbit and Sherlock discovers the wonders of a fascinating Tuscany, even if it is rainy. A slight disappointment for the actor who admits that he came to Italy above all "to escape the English climate" . Amused, Freeman comments his first time in the medieval town: "I had never been to Lucca, usually when I come to Italy I go south. Last night, while I was walking back to the hotel, I tried to convince myself how romantic the Italian rain was. I felt like you were Call me by your name, I also saw a couple of nice guys on the street, let me add that I'm joking, my press officer is going to have a heart attack . "

Psycho, or the discovery of cinema

A punctual movie lover, Martin Freeman proves to have the pulse of new trends. Despite numerous work commitments, does not give up to go to the movies and during the conversation shows he has seen many of the most interesting titles released in recent months. But the direct references of Ghost Stories are rooted in the past, to be exact in the world of British horror of the 50s and 60s, the legendary golden season of Hammer Films , so when we ask him what his favorite horror, Freeman admits it difficult to choose: "I am very attached to the British tradition of horror because I grew up, I saw them on TV dozens of times, at the time were already ancient. I loved Nightmares ,The five keys to terror and the fury of the Baskervilles . Among the recent horror, the best is undoubtedly Scappa - Get Out " .

Life always finds its way" . This is one of the most suggestive lines of Ghost Stories and is also the way Freeman comments on his choice to become an actor. "My first encounter with the cinema? I was seven when I saw the Psycho trailer on TV, and shortly after I gave the whole movie and my mother told me, 'It's a classic, you have to see it at all.' terrified for the next two years, but I loved him a lot. From there began my love for film and Hitchcock . another memory I have very clear dates back a few years later. One weekend I went to see Bugsy Maloneand Star Wars. On Monday we had to tell in a task what we did on the weekend, almost all of us talked about how Luke Skywalker blew up the spaceship . "

A few years passed from childhood to success. Years of a long apprenticeship culminated in the first incredible success, The Office , BBC series that launched the thirty year old Freeman in the Olympus. "I was lucky and at the time I spent ten hours a day on the set trying not to throw away the lines" . The comedy has remained in the DNA of the interpreter of Bilbo so much to push it to consider it an essential tool to sensitize the public towards important issues:"I do not think genre films are necessarily the best way to communicate, now we feel the need to categorize everything I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to tell stories, it's a human necessity I recently played in a comedy in London on last years of the Labor Party Laughter is one of the best ways to make people aware.Watch Dead Stalin, if he does another , he made us understand a series of historical events thanks to slapstick.A good comedy can communicate much more messages effective than any other format " .

A certain dose of British humor also permeates Ghost Stories , even if the film actually revolves around the supernatural. "I do not know if it exists or not, nobody knows, I try not to be dogmatic, everything is possible for me, I chose to make the film because the script scared me even when I read it early in the morning with a cup of coffee in front. moments made my heart beat, and then I knew the directors well, I knew that I would have fun with them on the set " . The scariest moment, during the processing of the film, however, is not due to the script, but it is the election of Trump."One morning I arrived on the set and the two directors had the goggle faces, none of us believed he could win, we shared the grief on the set and then decided to continue working in an alienating atmosphere . "

My model? Michael Caine

The amarcord moment comes when Martin Freeman recalls the experience on the New Zealand set of The Hobbit . "We were a gang, almost all of us, we often shared cramped spaces, but we never got to grips with testosterone, so there were some of the most important friendships in my life and Peter Jackson is a master," the actor points out. , as a man, his model of virility does not correspond to the standards of machismo. "I am attracted by men who are not afraid of showing their fragility, and when the public faces a hero without defects or weaknesses, he immediately understands that he is fake, I like to tell humanity".

Among the reference models, the principal is undoubtedly Michael Caine . "I discovered him in The Unuspecting and he struck me how he managed to be attractive and virile without being super sexy, he revolutionized acting, but I also love Al Pacino , Robert De Niro and Anthony Hopkins " . We do not know from whom Freeman has borrowed the loose talk, his trademark that also shows off in front of the public in Lucca, but he mocks: "It is not to bore the public, I do not want to put him to sleep". Before saying goodbye, Martin does not avoid a supernatural question. Asked if he would prefer to face a zombie, a ghost or Smaug, he asserts: "Smaug ... Seeing him, maybe I could think about it" .

An interesting article collecting chats and interviews Martin did while at the Lucca Film Festival. I found it fascinating to hear what recent films he saw, which he liked as a child or young man and what some of his acting role models are.  (apologies for some strange grammar or wording - the original article is in italian and I pushed it through g**gle translate) - free-martinis