All those who feel disturbed by changes in gender, race or sex in literary adaptations, those who are agitated by a new version of
The Little Mermaid
or the prequel to
The Lord of the Rings
and attribute these variations to Hollywood's surrender to “the woke culture” should review the career of Morgan Freeman (Memphis, 86 years old).
Three decades ago the actor took on a role, that of “Red” Redding in
Life Sentence
(1994), destined, according to the Stephen King story that he adapted, to a red-haired Irishman.
And he accompanied Kevin Costner in
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
(1991) in a role invented for him that does not appear in any version of the legend.
He also doesn't fit the iconographic representations of the Christian God, but he has played him twice, and three times the earthly almighty, the president of the United States, before any president had been black.
The first was in
Deep Impact
(1998).
When director Mimi Leder suggested her name, an executive refused, claiming that “they weren't doing science fiction.”
An achievement of incalculable value considering that she began her career when the infamous Hays Code was still in force in the cinema, which prohibited interracial relationships and limited the roles that black actors could access.
“When he was little there was no
me
in movies,” he recalled in an interview in
Esquire
.
“If there was a black man in a movie, it was for humorous purposes.
Until Sidney Poitier appeared and he showed young black people that we could play other roles.”
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“I would have been happier out of the closet, being free.”
Richard Chamberlain, the king of television who lived in hiding
Black, never “African American.”
Freeman has spoken out against that term.
“Two things I can say publicly that I don't like: Black History Month is an insult.
Are you going to relegate my story to a month? ”He declared a couple of years ago with some commotion.
“Also African American is an insult.
I don't subscribe to that title.
What does it really mean?
Most black people in this part of the world are mixed race.
And you say Africa as if it were a country, when it is a continent, like Europe.”
Morgan Freeman in 1981.CBS Photo Archive (CBS via Getty Images)
Actor Morgan on a rooftop in Los Angeles in 1990.Bonnie Schiffman Photography (Getty Images)
The fact that his career began 60 years ago has allowed him to witness changes that have made the industry unrecognizable.
“The change is that all people are involved now.
Everyone.
LGBTQ, Asian, Black, White, Interracial Marriages, Interracial Relationships.
All represented.
Now you see them all on the screen and that is a big leap.”
Freeman discovered his calling very early.
The son of a teacher and an alcoholic barber, he was a dancer until he enlisted in the army.
“When I was 16 I decided I wanted to become a fighter pilot,” he told Dutch film magazine
Preview
.
“I wanted to be in the army.
I wanted to be a warrior.
But as I was getting closer to fulfilling that dream at age 21 and sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet training, I suddenly knew that my dream was a romanticized version of war, made through movies.
I really wanted to make movies about it.
It was an epiphany that changed my life.
“I only had two ambitions and one of them was false.”
The cast of 'The Electric Company', including Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)
His first relevant role came in
The Electric Company
, a children's program where he coincided with Rita Moreno and Bill Cosby.
A job with exhausting hours that she quit after almost 800 episodes.
He was most comfortable in
Shakespearean
performances .
His first film roles were linked to the prison world, he accompanied Robert Redford in
Brubaker
(1980)
and participated in
Attica
(1980), a television film about the New York prison riots.
The public began to stay with her face in
The Liar Eye
(1981),
where he shared a plane with two of the most promising stars of the moment, Sigourney Weaver and Wiliam Hurt.
In
The Reporter on 42nd Street
(1987) he played for the only time the type of character to which black actors were usually limited, a dangerous and cocky criminal, a role that earned him his first Oscar nomination and dazzled critics, but He didn't want to continue down that path.
"I refused.
When you do something like this you receive many offers to play the same role again in other films.
I didn't want to repeat.
“If I’m good at something, I don’t want to do it again, I want to do something else.”
Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy show their Golden Globes (won for 'Driving Miss Daisy') in 1990.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)
The role that brought him his next nomination could not have been more different.
Her character in
Driving Miss Daisy
(1989), which she had already played in theater, gave her massive fame.
She was over 50 years old, but to the public she was a new face.
The story, based on a true story, of the black driver who wins the heart of an elderly racist Jewish woman until he becomes part of her family, was an unimaginable success that won four Oscars out of nine nominations and grossed 145 million dollars in everyone.
He was one of the men of fashion, so much so that there was a place for him in Kevin Costner's revitalization of the Robin Hood myth.
In
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
he played a role written for him, the public loved the proposal, not so much the critics.
His presence began to be common in settings rarely frequented by black actors, such as Clint Eastwood's
western
Unforgiven (1992).
However, her casting as Red in
Life Sentence
was surprising: her appearance in the film that has been leading IMDB's list of fan-favorite films for decades was due to a suggestion from producer Liz Glotzer.
In Stephen King's story, Red is a white Irishman with reddish hair, hence his nickname.
Darabont had thought about Gene Hackman or Robert Duvall, but since they were not available he listened to Glotzer.
When she found out they were interested in it, she was excited. “It was a brilliant script,” the actor told
Vanity Fair
.
"So I called my agent and said, 'No matter what part it is, I want to be in it.'
He said, 'Well, I think they want you to do Red.'
And I thought: Wow, I control the movie!”
Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in 'Life Sentence'.Archive Photos (Getty Images)
He was the true center of the film, the narrator.
For the first time his voice, one of his main weapons, was the absolute protagonist.
Since then he has narrated both fiction and documentaries, as well as advertisements.
Visa advertising has brought him great benefits, at least until being accused of “inappropriate behavior” by eight actresses led to the cancellation of his contract.
Colleagues such as the recently deceased actress Suzanne Somers came out in support of him and justified his “old-fashioned ways.”
Finally, the CNN journalist who had brought the allegations to light was accused of fabricating evidence, but the damage to the actor's reputation had already caused him to lose sponsorships.
It was not the only scandal that affected the actor.
In 2018, his “granddaughter” (actually the granddaughter of his first wife, E'Dena Hines) was murdered by her boyfriend.
First it was said that it had been an exorcism and then it was proven that it had been a sexist murder; she received twenty-five stab wounds in the middle of the street, in daylight.
Her boyfriend then claimed that the aspiring actress was in a relationship with Freeman, a rumor that had been circulating in Hollywood gossip for years, but he flatly denied it.
The actor everyone likes
Freeman's image, always associated with moderation, kind characters who help others, has always been above that news.
Already a star in the early nineties, he placed himself under the orders of David Fincher and, together with Brad Pitt, laid the foundations for the contemporary thriller in
Seven
(1995), a
buddy movie
with a serial killer and a religious motive that opened the door to dozens of similar proposals.
His slow, firm style, like the metronome that helps him think, combined with the volcanic outburst of the character played by Pitt.
His hierarchy was increasing: in Deep Impact he was the president of the United States and in 2003 he was God, the all-powerful being who guides Jim Carrey in
Like God
.
He could no longer aspire to more power on screen, but the cherry on top was still missing in the form of a prize.
He would arrive hand in hand with his friend Clint Eastwood.
Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in 'Seven'.Getty Images (Getty Images)
If their union in the twilight
Unforgiven
had been a resounding success, it was no less going to be his role as an ex-boxer with holey socks who convinces an old trainer of the potential of an aspiring boxer.
Million Dollar Baby
(2004), the devastating story that begins as a drama of personal improvement and ends as an intense reflection on euthanasia, earned him his first Oscar.
Thanks to Eastwood, he would also receive his last nomination at the moment, the one he received for playing the South African president Nelson Mandela (in
Invictus
, 2009).
In between, he had time to go through the rite of passage of our time: being part of a superhero film, like the faithful and ingenious Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's acclaimed
Batman
trilogy .
That Freeman does not work for awards is clear by reviewing an endless filmography: he has participated in more than 120 titles, some masterpieces, others absolutely forgettable and that seem, as he confessed to
Esquire
, "to pay the rent."
A concern that seems real for Freeman considering that his inseparable gold earrings, an aesthetic option that he fell in love with watching Burt Lancaster in
The Dreadful Mocker,
is not mere flirtation.
“These earrings are worth enough to buy me a coffin if I die in a strange place.
That was the reason why sailors used to wear them,” he confessed to
The Talks
.
Morgan Freeman pictured in 1989.Penske Media (Penske Media via Getty Images)
Morgan Freeman and Margot Robbie at the 2023 Oscars. Myung J. Chun (Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag)
At 86 years old, he continues to maintain a very high work rate.
This Friday, 57 Seconds
, a science fiction thriller in which she stars alongside Josh Hutcherson,
arrived in Spain .
The actor is aware that I am not calling him to give life to great characters, but to be himself.
“When my film career started, I wanted to be a chameleon.
I remember De Niro from the beginning, playing very different roles.
But as you mature in this business, you eventually become a star.
Then you're pretty screwed in terms of referring to yourself as a character actor.
You play the same role too many times: people hire you and say, 'You're the one I want.'
And you live with it.”
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