In Contention points out an image posted at this random site of Morgan Freeman on the set of Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela featue Invictus giving us our first look at Freeman as the freedom fighter. To this point we had only seen these images of Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, a rugby star and captain of the South African team, who along with former South African president Nelson Mandela (Freeman) created an event that gave the country’s whites and blacks a common cause to rally around as the country healed from years of apartheid.

The title for the film was only revealed this past week and Warner Bros. confirmed a December 11 release date. The film is being directed by Clint Eastwood who also directed Freeman to an Oscar in Million Dollar Baby and as revealed in this article at Style.com, Freeman sought out Eastwood to direct Invictus:

Effortlessly dapper in a black jacket and a white polo shirt at breakfast in Beverly Hills, [Freeman] says that at this point in his storied career, "there aren’t many challenges in making movies." Luckily, he’s about to embark on one of them—going to South Africa to produce and star in a big-budget Hollywood film about Nelson Mandela. "If you are playing a living figure who’s revered by the world, you’ve got yourself a major, major undertaking. You’ve got to do this without embarrassing yourself, your audience, and especially Madiba [Mandela's nickname]. Knowing that, you can be entirely too self-conscious. There are pitfalls, but I am going to be working with Clint."

He’s referring, of course, to his good friend Clint Eastwood, who’s directing the film at Freeman’s request. "Morgan is just right for the role," says the man who helmed Freeman’s Oscar-winning turn in Million Dollar Baby. "His stature in the acting world is like Mandela’s in his world." (Eastwood’s confidence turns out to be well-founded. "Things are going fantastic here," Freeman later tells me by phone from Johannesburg. "Everything has just fallen into place. The thing that’s surprised me is how easy it’s been to adapt to being Mandela.")

Thanks again to In Contention to pointing out the Style.com article as well.

Related post categories: Visual Proof : Invictus, Morgan Freeman

Permalink   |   RSS Feed | 3 comments so far