Art Freeman’s acting career began in 2017 when he met the eccentric Writer and Director, Neil Breen, who at the time was filming his fourth feature film,“Twisted Pair.” Working with Breen gave Freeman a short glimpse into the world of filmmaking. He played an Extra for a quick scene with no other than Julianne Moore on the set of “Gloria Bell.” “Every little bit helps and I was overjoyed. ”All thanks to my awesome Agent who believed in me,” says, Freeman.
Opportunity revealed itself later when he landed his biggest role to date, starring as Second Lieutenant Crowe in “The Nest,” Written and Directed by Brian Hennigan (Producer for comedian Doug Stanhope.) His role as Second Lieutenant Crowe loses everything, figuratively and literally, and had to endure injustice and many challenges to make it to the end.“Just like Joe Pesci with Martin Scorsese for the role of “Nicky” Santoro, I had to fight and prove that I could play the role because originally the Director went with a different Actor, then I auditioned for the role. It just goes to show you that it is over only when you stop fighting for what you really want,” says, Freeman.
In his latest film “The Benevolent” he plays the lead role of a serial killer although he actually auditioned for a different role. Acting truly is an art form. For Freeman, he liked the complexity and the unknown that he would need to face and he needed to explore the darkness of the character. The challenge was to portray behaviors he had never experienced before, to make it real for the audience. “I look at what the character wears, how he wears his hair, what he may sound like, try to notice subtleties or create nuances and pick up mannerisms that would fit. All this is carefully discussed with the Director and we chose the best course of action from there.
How do you prepare for your roles? “You let environment shape you, you understand what the driving force behind the decisions are,” says, Freeman. “You do your research, you take your time. You try to go as deep as you can or as you need to analyze the mental, physical, and emotional state at any given point in time. I get together with the Director and we break the character down to build it back up again. It takes a few sessions, we build the backstory and go from a scene-to-scene. I usually ask a lot of questions, so that I can walk in onto the set as a different person.”
“Acting is living a different life during this one, even if momentarily.” “I often joke it’s the fastest way of becoming a lawyer or a nurse or a space captain. Those childhood dreams that everyone had, well on-screen they are a reality. I think Actors are the only kind of humans who have never settled for a specific role in life. We simply are too fidgety to pick one, just a little bit too crazy. But there is definitely an art form in it.”
Most recently, Freeman has been Producing. He enjoys the amount of moving parts to every production. From finding the right story to tell to bringing the team together.
In the film, “Perfect Blue” it brings together the talents of Celina Jade and Fan Bingbing, two of Asia’s leading talents. Freeman’s chances of “getting in” were slim due in part to the fact that they did require proficiency in Chinese. His surprise was when he got a call from a Casting Agent asking him if I would be interested to play a small non- speaking role in the film, that of a medical researcher. This would be his first time partaking in a foreign production and he was genuinely excited.
Although his acting has truly been an art form, Freeman has spent the last 8-years teaching English and running test prep courses.
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