Actor of the Week: Morgan Freeman
The man whose voice you will recognise anywhere, Mr. Morgan Freeman, steps into our Actor of the Week spotlight this week. From Bruce Wayne's trusty gadget maker, to God himself, Freeman is an incredibly talented actor, with every character he plays being one everyone remembers. Whenever I talk to people about their career, I always refer to Morgan, in that, you don’t have to live to a time frame society sets for you. When you look at Morgan freeman’s acting career, he wasn’t exactly in his youth when he made it to the bigtime.
The first film I saw Morgan star in, which I believe will be the same for most people, is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, where he plays Robin Hood’s “sidekick” Azeem. Robin Hood tells the story of an incredibly accurate archer who uses his skills to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Mogan’s Azeem is a black man in a time where black people are not treated well, highlighting the good nature of Hood’s character, that things like race do not bother him.
Soon after Robin Hood, Morgan Freeman starred in IMDb’s highest rated film of all time, The Shawshank Redemption. TSR sees Morgan play Red, a prison inmate of Shawshank, who befriends,Andy, a new addition to the prison. Together they find redemption, as they stick together a survive the nasty nature of the prison. This film was when we all realised the power of Morgan’s voice, as he narrates the film, adding this incredible depth to the picture. The Shawshank Redemption is a film with so much emotion and meaning behind it, making it no surprise that it is at the top of IMDb’s list. This incredible films, earned Freeman his first Academy Award
From Shawshank, Morgan Freeman career to kept reaching height after height, starring in films such as Se7en, where he starred alongside former AOTW - Brad Pitt, Outbreak, Deep Impact and many other blockbusters.
The reason for why I chose Freeman (apart from his unmistakable and hypnotizing voice) is his role as Lucius Fox within The Dark Knight Trilogy. Batman would be nowhere without his gadgets which is where Freeman's character comes in. Fox aids Bruce in his use and assembling of gadgets. I say that The Dark Knight trilogy wouldn’t be as good without Freeman, in all honesty. As an actor he brings an incredible unique quality to any film and has a brilliant on screen relationship with former AOTW Christian Bale. Every scene they are in together has a great feel to it, only adding to the brilliance of Nolan’s take on the Caped Crusader.
The strange thing about Morgan’s career is that once it is over, he will most likely be remembered the most for his role as God in the Almighty franchise. I say this is strange because, out of all the films Morgan has done, I imagine that this one would be near the bottom of the list in terms of quality. I think the reason he’ll be remembered them most for this is because it kinda sums up our actor. The way he carries himself, his voice, they way he is as a person, it is all very god-like. He also delivers a brilliant speech about God, that is a fair argument that there is one. You can see this below...
Morgan Freeman’s list of films goes on for a long time, all highlighting certain aspects of his acting ability. He is favoured by the Academy being nominated for four Oscars, wich he won one for his role in the brilliant, Million Dollar Baby. The bottomline is that Freeman is an actor that can make you like any film, not matter how bad it is, which is why it was an obvious choice to pick him this week.
