"There’s Something about Hearing That F**king Needle Hit"

Martin Freeman talks mixtapes, the joy of record stores, and his vinyl white whale

In this edition of “WHAT’S IN YOUR TAPE DECK,” I talked to Martin Freeman, the actor and self-avowed “music nerd.” He’s played a crap-ton of iconic characters, from Bilbo Baggins (in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy) to Tim Canterbury (from the original British Office) to Lester Nygaard (in the Fargo TV series). We didn’t talk about any of that.

Eric Spitznagel: Growing up, did you make a lot of mixtapes for friends or girlfriends?

Martin Freeman: I did, yeah. I still do, though they’re not necessarily tapes. I was making mixtapes up until very recently, but I’ve moved on to CDs. But I do enjoy making compilations for people, yeah. It’s one of the first things you do with a woman, kind of like a test. “Let’s see how she responds to this.” I was quite fetishistic about forcing my tastes onto people. You’re basically finding out if she’s going to be a runner or not. “If you like these songs then we’ve got hope, but if you don’t then it might be a short-lived thing.”