Мы читали достаточно отзывов коллег Ричарда о нем, его работе. Читали, что он веселый, трудолюбивый, усердный (в этом мы не сомневаемся) и т.д., и т.п. А вот в таком плане его охарактеризовал только Мартин. ИМХО, в современном шоу-бизе очень сложно быть на плаву и притом себя уважать как человека, личность, не замарать свою репутацию негативными вещами и поступками. Мы, как люди со стороны, видим, что Ричард позиционирует себя галантным и сдержанным человеком, я даже в сети читала, что люди (критично и не очень позитивно к нему настроенные) прозывают его Mr. Right (мистер Правильный). Прозывают, ведь он старается не давать поводов для сплетен и не занимается дешевым пиаром. Многих такое заводит в тупик, ведь селебрити не очень интересны, если их не преследуют сплетни и скандалы. И вот такая оценка Мартина, человека, который бок о бок с ним работает. Да, надо уважать себя, чтобы быть выше шоу-бизовского негатива и д… ма, котрое выливаеться на Ричарда время от времени в сети, от отсутствия скандалов с ним и инф-и о личной жизни. Он же в это время усердно работает, совершенствуется и радует нас чудесной премьерой. И сама жизнь расставит все по своим местам и воздаст по заслугам.

"I look on the characters of Bilbo and Thorin as the heart and soul of the story really. Iif Bilbo is the heart then Thorin is the soul. Richard...we auditioned the role, saw many, many actors and Richard really managed to capture for us the very important sense of nobility, because he is essentially playing a king, but also the conflict as to whether or not he has the ability to lead these dwarves on this very difficult quest, a small number to fight a dragon, to reclaim a homeland, that's a very noble thing that he's trying to do and yet he doesn't really have the resources, if you like, to do this. And also with the character, there's a sense of honour that Richard...a sort of quiet honour that Richard carries, which I think is absolutely superb and as an actor Richard is one of those very rare actors in which he uses stillness and he uses quiet to draw your eye. There can be a lot of things happening on the screen, there can be many characters on the screen, and yet Thorin in his stillness draws your attention. It's a very, very rare skill...he's somebody when he's on screen that your eyes go to, that you want to watch."

"It was very easy, actually, working with Richard. He is ...what Pete said actually about what he brings to Thorin is partly what he brings just as a person, which is, he has quiet determination, he respects himself and others and he respects other's way of working but he holds on to this very strong core of himself actually, he's about the least arrogant person you could wish to meet, he's very self-deprecating and he's always up for... I don't know, he's just up for what you're going to bring to the scene. I remember I went to the gym with him once, and there were a few of us there and we had to do these circuits around the gym with this insane psychopath of a gym trainer, and I was busy dying about half way round, and I nearly did pass out, I genuinely nearly...it was only a sports drink that stopped me from falling on the floor. I looked over and Richard had quietly completed the entire circuit, sort of slightly breaking a sweat and he sort of admitted that he was...you know, he found it hard and he was finding (feeling) tired, but what I really admired about that was that he wasn't being macho and he wasn't being butch, but he just quietly got on with it and that's kind of how he treated the 18 months of the job really. You know, all the trials and tributions that inevitably come with just the day to day making of a film, it's tiring, you miss home, etc. He was very stoical about it, which again is a great thing for Thorin. So I think there was a good marriage of Richard and Thorin there and yeah I enjoyed working with him very much. What I always think about Richard is he is essentially a decent person, and I can offer no higher praise to someone, I think he's a good human being and I like being around them."

А вот я как раз где-то читала обратное. Что Фриман, соглашаясь на участие в фильме допускал, какой ажиотаж и интерес к его персоне и его семье вызовет заглавная роль в таком проекте. И именно этот момент отнюдь не вызывал у него восторга.