I'm not particularly affable in real life, I have to tell you. I've got that side to me, of course, but that's not all I am.
I don't like affectation.
Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay and Al Pacino made me want to act. I've always been interested in men with a vulnerable side.
The best of American television is thought-provoking, original, brilliant, exciting - from 'The Sopranos' on, whether it's 'The Wire' or 'Breaking Bad' or 'House of Cards,' they're fantastic pieces of art.
Half of us are partly German! Half our language and culture, generally, in Anglo-Saxon terms, is German.
I've got a stag weekend coming up and I've said I'm not doing anything more than a few drinks. I won't have it. I'll go home and watch Antiques Roadshow.
'Sherlock' is one of the biggest things I will do, ever - we could never have predicted that level of insanity around the series.
I am a fan of the Coen brothers. I'm not a fanatic. I'm a big admirer. They create unique worlds, and there is a real atmosphere to their films. Not everyone can get that. That's a massive part of their appeal: you can recognise them. Like all the great directors or artists, you know it when you see it.
When people bully us, we are complicit in it in some way. We do allow it to happen to some extent.
I've always got my eye on my deathbed.
I'm quite a disciplinarian: I can be a shouter. But I can be a very demonstrative kisser and hugger.
There's a difference between the parts that I play and who I am and who people think I am. There's quite a big discrepancy sometimes between those things.
'The Hobbit' would have been very difficult to pass on, do you know what I mean? It's not the kind of ship that comes into dock very often.
I've always slightly envied other actors I know who have different reputations. I think, 'God, you don't get people coming up to you, going, 'Hey!' - because they're scared of you.'
Like any friendship or marriage, familiarity breeds more contempt, and love, and everything.
There is nothing far-fetched about disappointment as a subject for comedy. It's something we are all too familiar with.
I didn't audition for 'Fargo.' It was a straight offer.
I did a play once where a reviewer said, 'Martin Freeman's too nice to play a bad guy.' And I thought: 'Well, bad guys aren't always bad guys, you know?' When I see someone play the obvious villain, I know it's false.
I like being called 'Mr. Freeman' occasionally.
My idea of a good night out is staying in.
