FX's Reimagined Fargo Series Features Sherlock's Martin Freeman as We've Never Seen Him

IGN
by Roth Cornet JANUARY 14, 2014



FX's new limited series, Fargo, is set to premiere in April. The 10-part limited series from producers Noah Hawley, Warren Littlefield, Joel and Ethan Coen, and Geyer Kosinski exists in the same universe as the original film, but tells an entirely original story.

Stars Martin Freeman (Lester Nygaard), Billy Bob Thornton (Lorne Malvo), Allison Tolman (Molly Solverson), and Colin Hanks (Gus Grimly) were on hand at today's TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour along with Littlefield and Hawley, who serves as showrunner and is writing all ten episodes, to discuss their Fargo-inspired drama.

"The movie is about the tension between comedy and tragedy, so it’s 'cragedy,'" Hawley joked when asked about the tone. His Fargo will operate in a similar vein, though rather than following the events that lead up to a tragedy, it will trace the aftermath.

"You know, Joel and Ethan said something about polite society as often being the most violent," Hawley recalled. "I was really interested in this idea of taking a man like Lester Nygaard, Martin’s character, who is so squeezed by life, and, you know, pushing him to the point where he might snap."

Freeman's Nygaard, a mild-mannered salesman, is only briefly exposed to Thornton's Malvo, a mysterious drifter who Hawley says, "is someone who represents wilderness." Yet it only takes that momentary interaction for an "infection" to take place in Nygaard's heart, head, and soul. The series is in some ways about the fallout of that one - seemingly chance - encounter wherein Malvo opens a portal to all of Nygaard's pent up rage.



Though the show opens with a bang, Hawley assures that they're, "heading toward a collision, a big collision, at the end of the thing" as well.

Thornton feels that Malvo is, "a little bit God, a little bit the devil" and stressed that he's not afraid to "take on a character who starts at a ten." For his part, Freeman was drawn to the strength of the script and the opportunity to do something entirely different.

"It wasn’t the idea of making a Fargo spinoff at all," Freeman said. "Enjoy the movie as I do and enjoy the Coens as I do. It could have been a terrible Fargo spinoff. Do you know what I mean? It could have used that as an inspiration and I could have read the script and it’s awful. It has to stand on its own, and I felt it did."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/15/fxs-reimagined-fargo-series-features-sherlocks-martin-freeman-as-weve-never-seen-him 

‘Sherlock’ Star Martin Freeman Joins FX’s ‘Fargo’

CRAVE ON LINE
September 26th, 2013
Blair Marnell

One of the reasons that producing “Sherlock” is so difficult is that its stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are heavily in demand for movies. However, Freeman has just signed up for a new TV miniseries… it just won’t be on British television.

Freeman has been cast as the co-lead of FX’s “Fargo” miniseries, opposite Billy Bob Thornton. The new ten episode miniseries is inspired by Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo feature film; with the Coen brothers on board the miniseries as executive producers.

The central character will be Freeman’s Lester Nygaard, “a small town insurance salesman henpecked by his wife, whose life is changed when a mysterious stranger, Lorne Malvo (Thornton), comes to town.”

Reportedly the “Fargo” miniseries will feature brand new characters and a new case while maintaining the original setting. That said, Freeman’s character sounds very similar to the one played by William H. Macy in the Fargo feature film.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.craveonline.com/tv/articles/577973-sherlock-star-martin-freeman-joins-fxs-fargo

Colin Firth, Alan Rickman: Steal a pair of tickets to the Gambit premiere! (ORANGE FILM NEWS)

Hit the red carpet alongside Cameron Diaz and Colin Firth with this exciting give away in association with Gambit, the new comedy caper from the Coen brothers, due to hit UK cinemas on the 21st November.

To celebrate its release we have two pairs of tickets for the World Premiere, a star-studded affair that will take place in London on Wednesday 7th November, to give away to two lucky winners.

Private art curator Harry Deane (Firth) devises a finely-crafted scheme to con England's richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar, (Alan Rickman) into purchasing a fake Monet painting.

In order to bait his buyer, he recruits a Texas rodeo queen (Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII.

BAFTA award winner Sir Tom Courtenay, Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci and Academy Award© winner and veteran comedienne Cloris Leachman round out the cast. Gambit hits UK cinemas on Wednesday 21st November 2012.

For your chance to win one of two pairs of tickets we're giving away, all you have to do is answer the following question:

Who plays the Texas rodeo queen in Gambit?

a) Cameron Diaz
b) James Cameron
c) David Cameron

Email your answer, along with your name and address and Gambit in the subject line, to orangecompetitions@yahoo.co.uk


READ MORE: http://web.orange.co.uk/article/film/gambit-premiere-competition-1783789

Colin Firth: Preview: Coens-scripted con farce 'Gambit' gets UK trailer (CINEVUE)

By Daniel Green, Special Features

It's been over a year since British Oscar winner Colin Firth last graced our screens, starring as the duplicitous Bill Haydon in Tomas Alfredson's wonderful adaptation of spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). However, it looks like Firth was merely biding his time for the release of Gambit (2012), a new Coen brothers-scripted comedy from Michael Hoffman - the man behind George Clooney rom-com One Fine Day (1996) and 2009's Last Station. A first UK trailer for Hoffman's latest emerged today, giving us an initial glimpse of Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman and Stanley Tucci in action.

A remake of the 1966 film of the same name starring Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine, Gambit sees Ethan and Joel once again treading familiarly light ground, with a suggested tone not too dissimilar to either Intolerable Cruelty (2003) or (the far superior) Burn After Reading (2008). Firth plays Harry Deane, a stiff upper-lipped English art curator seeking revenge against his slave-driving boss Lionel Shahbandar (Rickman). Emerging with a plan to con Shahbandar into purchasing a fake version of Monet's Haystacks, currently in the possession of American rodeo queen PJ Puznowski (Diaz), Dean jets off to the States to claim his prize. However, when Puznowski flies over to London to seal the deal, the wheels quickly begin to fall off the cart.



READ MORE: http://www.cine-vue.com/2012/09/preview-coen-scripted-con-farce-gambit.html

Watch: Wacky First Footage From 'Gambit' Starring Colin Firth & Cameron Diaz NEWS BY KEVIN JAGERNAUTH SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 8:02 AM (PLAYLIST)

When a movie is getting most of its buzz because it has a script written by Ethan and Joel Coen there are certain...expectations. But if this first footage of the upcoming "Gambit" is anything to go by, there is a difference between a movie written by the Coens and a movie written and directed by the Coens.




READ MORE: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-wacky-first-footage-from-gambit-starring-colin-firth-cameron-diaz-20120919

Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Cameron Diaz And A Lion Feature In First Posters For 'Gambit' (THE PLAYLIST)

BY OLIVER LYTTELTON
SEPTEMBER 6, 2012 8:58 AM

Private art curator Harry Deane (Colin Firth) devises a finely-crafted scheme to con England's richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar, (Alan Rickman) into purchasing a fake Monet painting. In order to bait his buyer, he recruits a Texas rodeo queen (Cameron Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII.

BAFTA award winner Sir Tom Courtenay, Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci and Academy Award© winner and veteran comedienne Cloris Leachman round out the cast.

For the second year in a row, it seems that we won't be getting a new Coen Brothers film. The directors had been especially prolific in recent years, with four films in four years between "No Country For Old Men" and "True Grit," but producer Scott Rudin confirmed a while back that it was unlikely that their latest, "Inside Llewlyn Davis," would be ready in time for release in 2012, despite the hopes of many. We suspect we won't see the film until Cannes next year at the earliest, but fans should take heart: a project that the brothers had a hand in will be surfacing over the next few months.

Years ago, as a paycheck assignment gig, the duo wrote a remake of the 1966 Michael Caine/Shirley MacLaine caper flick "Gambit," and after years in development hell, the film finally made it into production in 2011, with Michael Hoffman ("The Last Station") at the helm, and Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman in central roles. And Orange have just unveiled a pair of character posters for the film, focusing on Firth and Rickman's characters, as well as a lion who will presumably figure into the plot. 

READ MORE: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/colin-firth-alan-rickman-and-a-lion-feature-in-first-posters-for-gambit-20120906

Colin Firth, Alan Rickman: See a Few Seconds of Footage From the Coen Brothers-Scripted ‘Gambit’ Posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2012 by Russ Fischer

Posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2012 by Russ Fischer  (FILM)

A movie I’m really curious to see, whenever the chance arises, is Gambit. Directed by Michael Hoffman, the movie is a remake of a 1966 romantic caper movie that originally starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. This version was scripted some time ago by Joel and Ethan Coen, and finally shot with Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz in the lead roles, supported by Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Tom Courtenay and Cloris Leachman.



READ MORE: http://www.slashfilm.com/see-two-posters-and-a-few-seconds-of-footage-from-the-coen-brothers-scripted-gambit/

Colin Firth: CBS Films Release Date Shuffle: GAMBIT, Starring Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz, Moved Up to October 12; by Adam Chitwood Posted:May 9th, 2012 at 2:01 pm (COLLIDER)

CBS Films has done a bit of release date shuffling for two of their upcoming releases.  First up, director Michael Hoffman’s remake of the 1966 caper comedy Gambit has been moved up from January 11th, 2013 to October 12th of this year (per Box Office Mojo).  Cameron Diaz and Colin Firth star as partners in a con to sell a fake Monet painting, and the film has a script by Joel and Ethan Coen.  Given the caliber of talent involved, the January date was always a bit of a puzzler.  The film will now square off against Ben Affleck’s stellar looking period thriller Argo and the Kevin James “comedy” Here Comes the Boom.

CBS Films has certainly seen a cut of Gambit by now, and one has to wonder if they think they’ve got a shot at the awards season race.  The cast is certainly exciting, with Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Tom Courtenay and Cloris Leachman rounding out the supporting roles, so the fact that we’ll get to catch the film earlier than previously planned is definitely good news.


READ MORE: http://collider.com/gambit-release-date-7500/165126/