NEW YORK — As Bilbo Baggins, the reluctant traveler at the center of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Martin Freeman survives encounters with all manner of Middle-earth menace, from rock creatures who burst forth from mountainsides and hurl giant boulders to a hygiene-deprived troll who mistakes our wee hero for a tissue.
It is odd, then, that during an interview, the British actor — who stars in the first of three films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's literary precursor to The Lord of the Rings, opening nationwide Friday — is thrown for a loop by a wooden stirrer that is topped by an ornate lump of rock-candy crystals.
"Is that sugar?" Freeman, 41, inquires while staring incredulously at the fancy utensil he just plopped into his room-service latte. "Is that a real thing here?"
Assured that the item is not considered a necessity in most American households, he looks relieved. "This is not part of Obamacare, then."
Such wit has served Freeman well throughout a career that began in U.K. sitcoms, including the original version of The Office as the prankster cubicle drone played by John Krasinski in the long-running U.S. knockoff.
For some reason, his Tim was changed to Jim on this side of the Atlantic.
"Are there many Tims in America?" asks Freeman, once again stymied by Yankee customs. "I don't know if I can think of many American Tims."
The specialist in awkwardly self-effacing Everymanliness moved on to features such as 2003's Love Actually, finessing a role as a shy movie double in explicit sex scenes who chastely falls for his female counterpart. The yuletide-set ensemble romance has evolved into a holiday perennial on TV. As Freeman observes, "People watch it whether they want to or not. It's become a new Wizard of Oz for Christmas."
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