It’s an exciting time for Joe Freeman as the 19-year-old son of Amanda Abbington and Martin Freeman has landed his first leading role in MGM’s The Institute.
The eight-part series, which launched on 13 July, is an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The series charts Luke, played by Joe, a teen prodigy with telekinetic powers as he’s kidnapped by the titular institute and put through horrific tests in a bid to further awaken his abilities.
Ahead of the series, Joe and his co-star Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian, Westworld) sat down with HELLO! to speak about their new project, and Joe revealed how his thesbian parents helped him land the crucial role.
He explained: “I did my self-tape with mum, and they were telling me, ‘This is not guaranteed. Chances are this won’t happen for you.’ They’ve been in the industry and they know rejection.
“I didn’t think this was going to happen because I’m a British kid, and this is an American project; I’ve never acted professionally there was no reason [for it to happen].”
© Chris Reardon/MGM+Addressing the hard-hitting scenes that saw his character undergo torture, Joe shared: “There’s that thing of, ‘What would you do in that situation? How would you think?’
“I just channelled what I thought my reaction would have been to that pain. How would Joe have reacted to that and push that as much as possible.“
Starring alongside Ben
Joe was incredibly grateful to be working alongside more experienced co-stars, establishing a strong bond with Ben while also learning vital skills from stars like Mary-Louise Parker (The West Wing), Julian Richings (Supernatural) and Robert Joy (CSI: New York).
With the series being filmed in Canada, Joe revealed how much of a help Ben was when away from his family. “People ask me how it was in Canada, and I often say I couldn’t have done it if Ben wasn’t there,” he explained.
© Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireIma“On the first day in Halifax, I got a message from Ben, and he made me feel so settled immediately. Not only is it a privilege to be able to work with someone like Ben or Mary-Louise or Julian or Robert, but I get to try and compete with them in a scene. I was watching everything they did, and trying to dial stuff down or dial it up.”
Ben added: “I would have a week where I wasn’t shooting anything, and I would come back to the set, and it was just Joe’s set by that point. The whole crew was completely obsessed with him and thrilled by the story he was telling.
© Chris Reardon/MGM+He continued: “We would meet up a couple of times a week, even when we weren’t shooting together, and download each other on what we’d been shooting.
“We would chat about scenes we were doing and go through them with each other, because we wanted to build that connection between Tim and Luke.”
© Chris Reardon/MGM+Ben played police officer Tim Jamieson in the show, with his character coming across Luke halfway through the series. However, the duo’s off-screen bond ended up so strong, they received directing notes reminding them that their characters had only just met by the time they ended up uniting on screen.
The Institute can be streamed on Amazon Prime now.
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