'Fargo' TV show spins a new story out of the world of the Oscar-winning film
The FX show 'Fargo' stars Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton. Freeman said he was satisfied that the TV series was separate enough from the original film. 'I'm not interested in playing an echo of something that was done 20 years ago,' the 'Sherlock' actor said.
The FX show 'Fargo' stars Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton. Freeman said he was satisfied that the TV series was separate enough from the original film. 'I'm not interested in playing an echo of something that was done 20 years ago,' the 'Sherlock' actor said.
Almost two decades ago, Joel and Ethan Coen introduced moviegoers to Frances McDormand鈥檚 Midwestern accent and unusual uses for a wood chipper with their film 鈥淔argo.鈥�
And now the 1996 movie is the basis for a new FX series that debuts tonight. While the Coen brothers鈥� film centered on a car salesman (William H. Macy) who decides to make a fortune by having his wife kidnapped and keeping part of the reward for himself, the TV version of 鈥淔argo鈥� focuses on a man named Lester Nygaard, an insurance salesman. Billy Bob Thornton stars as a drifter named Lorne Malvo who, according to FX, 鈥渕eets and forever changes the life of [Lester].鈥�
In addition, Colin Hanks portrays a conflicted policeman and actors Bob Odenkirk, Glenn Howerton of 鈥淚t鈥檚 Always Sunny in Philadelphia,鈥� Oliver Platt, and Kate Walsh of 鈥淧rivate Practice,鈥� among others, appear on the show.
The Coen brothers are executive-producing the show and it鈥檚 set to run for 10 episodes.
Freeman recently spoke with Vulture about his decision to take the lead role.
鈥淚n a vacuum, just hearing about [the show], I might have thought, 鈥榃ell, do we need that?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚 had the same feeling, by the way, about 鈥楽herlock鈥� [on which he stars as Dr. John Watson]. 鈥楻eally? Do we need that?鈥� But after the first few pages, that turned into, 鈥榊es. We do need it, and I need to be in it.鈥欌�澛�
He acknowledges it鈥檚 a tough balance to strike when parodying the Midwestern accents and culture to do so without being patronizing.
鈥淏ut the truth of some of those Minnesota accents is that even some Minnesotans think that they're kind of funny,鈥� Freeman said. 鈥淪o it's a fine line of getting that and honoring those characters, not being reverential to them or patronizing them, but to also acknowledge that some of the things the characters say are funny in the way that some of the things that are classically English are kind of ridiculous.鈥�
Freeman said he was satisfied that the TV version of 鈥淔argo鈥� can stand on its own.
鈥淚'm not interested in playing an echo of something that was done 20 years ago,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is its own thing.鈥�