One of Sherlock’s foremost directors, the one who shaped the series’ style, Paul McGuigan, has something to say about MF.
“When you get to work with someone like Martin and Benedict, you realize you’re playing at a very high level,” says McGuigan.
“[Benedict] totally understood the character,” continues McGuigan. “He totally understood what he needed to do. I would get him to memorize 10-page dialogue scenes and I would say to him, ‘I’m probably not going to cut this so you’ve got to know every single word verbatim.’ Of course I did cut it, but I was kind of like, that would be my ideal. He did, god bless him, he learnt it.”
While Cumberbatch’s performance as Sherlock is wonderfully loud and kinetic in scope and quality, Freeman’s portrayal of John Watson is much quieter—no less important to a show that is technically called Sherlock, but very much has two leads.
“Interestingly enough, Martin was the first person who won an award for Sherlock,” says McGuigan. “I totally understand it because his job, his character’s job, was always the voice of reason for the audience.” This allowed the character of Sherlock to be “a real asshole,” says McGuigan.
“Everyone was really worried,” says McGuigan. “BBC were really worried about: is he too much of an asshole? My reply to that was: no, because you’ve got Watson saying, ‘You’re an asshole.’ The audience goes, ‘OK, at least somebody said it. Then I’m happy for him to be an asshole.’ So Watson was always the kind of moral compass for the audience.”
McGuigan remembers Freeman, who was previously best known for his comedic turn as Tim in The Office, being worried about being too funny in his initial portrayal of John Watson.
“Martin and I would often talk about now you’re the soldier, you’re not being funny anymore,” says McGuigan, using the example of John’s first meeting with Mycroft in “A Study in Pink.” “Martin started kind of messing about and trying to be funny. I said, ‘No, no. This is the moment that you’re the soldier. This is the moment you go toe to toe with him. This is the moment the audience understands this is much more interesting than you just being the funny guy. You actually are very protective towards him and as this season goes on you’ll be much more.’”
Reflecting on Freeman’s contributions to the project, McGuigan says: “Of course Benedict got all the plaudits for it, and quite rightly so, he was just extraordinary. But I also had a very soft spot for what Martin was doing because, to me, Martin was carrying him on his shoulders. I thought that was interesting.” (Boldfaced mine)
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