A Regular Bloke on His Way Up

The role of Dent presented other challenges as well. There was, of course, an awareness that Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide" series has sold millions of copies around the world since the late 1970s. Like other science fiction fantasies, the books have attracted a certain kind of fervent fan. Expectations would be high.

"For some people this is going to be like sacrilege if it's perceived to have got it wrong," says Freeman. "But I couldn't go to work with that feeling, and I couldn't really go and do my job if I was paying too much mind to that. I just . . . tried to play him in the best way I could."

That way was not merely impersonating Simon Jones, the veteran actor who played Dent in a 1981 British television version. Instead, Freeman focused on finding a balance between the story's comedy and tragedy. Within the first 10 minutes of the film, Earth is demolished to make way for an intergalactic expressway.

"Everything Arthur Dent . . . has ever known or thought he knew has been destroyed -- I mean, wiped. At the same time, you're acting in a comedy; you can only be so serious," says Freeman. "But I think it's got to matter. I think for the audience, it's got to matter that this man and us have just lost our planet in the first 10 minutes of the film."

Freeman remembers reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" as a teenager, but he wasn't bowled over. "I was at an age when it either kind of hooked you in or it didn't, and it didn't," he says. "That wasn't really where I was at when I was 13."

Where was he at?

He pauses. "Um, honestly?"

Yes, honestly.

"George Orwell, I suppose. . . . 'Animal Farm,' 'Homage to Catalonia.' I liked all his stuff. I read 'Animal Farm' when I was 11, and it remained my favorite book, really."

Freeman grew up in the West London suburb of Teddington, the youngest of five siblings. As a child he suffered asthma attacks serious enough to require hospitalization. Still, he became an avid squash player in his teens.

He also developed a passion for far-left politics, but his interests soon shifted. By 18, he was involved in youth theater, he says, "so my focus was more on acting as opposed to bringing around bloody revolution."

He attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in North London, and left early for a year-long stint at the National Theatre. After that, he did stage and television work, and also dabbled in music, playing bongo drums in clubs and cafes.