Martin Freeman Still Not Sure He'll Star In 'The Hobbit'; Signs On To Co-Star In 'Animals'

Speaking to Empire this weekend, British actor Martin Freeman confirmed that he turned down the chance to star in "The Hobbit" as Bilbo Baggins, the role inhabited by Ian Holm in the original "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy.

"I did have to say no to it for the second series of 'Sherlock,' " he said. "If something could be worked out, that would be great, but yeah, I [turned it down] with a heavy heart, definitely."

But despite reports that said Peter Jackson's somewhat troubled production would try and work around his busy BBC TV "Sherlock Holmes" schedule, Freeman wasn't exactly sounding incredibly optimistic. "I’d like to think [I could appear in it]. If there is any outside possibility, then that would be great," he said of the new January shooting schedule. "But I’ve learned not to think too much or hope too much about stuff. It will happen if it happens."

Still, the actor, who is 39 thinks he's a good age for the role. "Absolutely, because Bilbo isn’t 20 at this stage of the story," he said, "and I reckon I could do a young Ian Holm. I think I could give that a go."

Meanwhile, the actor has signed on to appear in co-star in "Animals," a fantasy-laced coming-of-age tale and the feature-length debut of Catalan director Marcal Fores. The picture is described as " 'Donnie Darko' meets Gus Van Sant," but fans still holding out hope for "The Hobbit" shouldn't worry, it's basically about to start shooting and shouldn't interfere with a production that starts in 2011.

The film is full of Spanish talent and a film crew that comes from Escac, the Barcelona film school that spawned the careers of Juan Antonio Bayona ("The Impossible," "The Orphanage") and Guillem Morales ("Julia's Eyes"). Cinematographer Eduard Grau ("Buried," "A Single Man") is on board, as is editor Bernat Vilaplana ("Pan's Labyrinth," "Hellboy II: The Golden Army").