All those who feel disturbed by changes in gender, race or sex in literary adaptations, those who are agitated by the new version of The little Mermaid or the prequel to The Lord of the rings and they attribute these variations to a surrender of Hollywood to “the cultural woke up” they should review the career of Morgan Freeman (Memphis, 86 years old). Three decades ago the actor took on a role, that of Grid Redding in Life imprisonment (1994), intended, according to the Stephen King story it 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 does not 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 to an executive and she refused, claiming that “they weren't doing science fiction.” An invaluable achievement 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 I in the 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.”
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?” 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.”
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,” declared to the Dutch film magazine Preview. “I wanted to be in the army. He 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 romantic 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.”
His first relevant role came in The Electric Company, a children's program where he met 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 their faces in The lying eye (1981), where he shared a plane with two of the most promising stars of the moment, Sigourney Weaver and Wiliam Hurt. In The 42nd Street Reporter (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 did not 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.”
The role that brought him his next nomination could not have been more different. Her character in Walking Miss Daisy (1989), which he had already performed in theater, gave him 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 on stages rarely frequented by black actors, such as the western by Clint Eastwood No forgiveness (1992). However, the choice of him as Red in Life imprisonment It was surprising: his appearance in the film that has been leading the list of IMDB fans' 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,” declared the actor to Vanity Fair. “So I called my agent and said, 'No matter what part it is, I want to be in it.' She said, 'Well, I think they want you to play Red.' And I thought: Wow, I control the movie!”
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 25 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. Having already become 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 thriller contemporary 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. She 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.
If your union in the twilight No forgiveness had been a resounding success, no less so was his role as a former boxer with leaky 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 for 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 the acclaimed trilogy of batman by Christopher Nolan.
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 fearsome mocker, It 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.
At 86 years old, he continues to maintain a very high work rate. This Friday she arrived in Spain 57 secondsa thriller science fiction in which he stars alongside Josh Hutcherson. The actor is aware that he is no longer called 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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