Morgan Freeman isn’t the type to offer sage advice to his young co-stars. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no,” he tells Parade. “I’m not one of those just ‘full [of] advice and wisdom’ and sh-t. No. You do your job, I do my job,” he says. He’s laughing, but he’s not joking. If you’re an up-and-comer looking to learn from the Oscar-winning actor, you’ll have to rent The Shawshank Redemption or Million Dollar Baby or one of his many other career-defining movies. Lucky for you, his credits are a master class.
On this particular afternoon, Freeman is on hand to discuss A Good Person, a $2 million indie, written and directed by Zach Braff, in which he stars as Daniel, a former police officer and recovering alcoholic who’s grieving the loss of his daughter. The project also features Florence Pugh as Allison, the young woman responsible for the death of Daniel’s child.
Ahead, we talk about why Freeman wanted to star in A Good Person; the problem with multiple takes; and his upcoming Taylor Sheridan show, Lioness.
I read that when you called Zach to accept the part you said, “I see myself on every page of the script.” How so?
When I read A Good Person it was like, “I know who this person is. I know what he’s going through.” Not that I was ever an alcoholic, but I did have my run through with alcohol back in the day. So I told Zach that because it was the truth.
What is it about Zach that you trust?
He’s a real person. He’s very earnest, honest and a loving human being. Zach is just sweet. Very nice man.
He said you had a one word response when he asked about doing another take. You said, “Why?”…What did you have against the other take?!
Oh yeah. If you say, “Oh, that was great. Let’s do it again,” I don’t want to. If it was great, what’s the problem? Why you got to do it again? I’m like that all the time. If someone says, “Let’s just do one more”—tell me why. Did I do something wrong or you just want to do it again? If you just want to do it again, I don’t really want to.
Did you guys end up doing the take again or no, that was it?
No, that was it.
You took the part in A Good Person because the script spoke to you. What sort of scripts are you not as interested in doing these days?
I don’t know how to say that in public [laughs]. But you know…Everybody’s writing now and everybody’s getting [projects] done because streaming has opened up the market so much. Some things are just…what’s the word I’m looking for? Poorly realized or poorly written, or they’re more like ripoffs, you know?
You’re in the middle of shooting a big-budget movie, Gunner. How does that compare to A Good Person, and do you have a preference between indie and big-budget films?
Not really. To tell you the truth, at this stage if I pick the job there are only two possible things that I’m really interested in. Well, three possible things: Who’s buying, who’s directing and what does it pay?
How does working on Gunner compare to A Good Person?
Well, A Good Person was for the script. They didn’t have a lot of money and so if you’ve got a good story to tell and you come to me to help tell it, I’m pretty much all for it.
You’re also set to star as U.S. Secretary of State in Taylor’s Sheridan’s CIA drama Lioness. What can you tell us about your meeting with Sheridan?
Oh, we just had a Zoom interview and he told me what he was doing and why he wanted me involved. Just, “I wanted Morgan Freeman to be the one that was chastising”—think it was chastising—”the whole program of the Lioness.”
Do you watch any of his other shows like Yellowstone or Mayor of Kingstown, 1923?
All of them. He’s an excellent writer. I went through Yellowstone bingeing, and then 1883 and then 1923. I haven’t seen the other one yet. Been away.
Like you mentioned, Taylor’s a great writer. He’s also an actor. And Zach is an actor and a writer. Would you consider writing at this stage?
Me? No. If could write, I would have been doing that right along. I’ve tried and I just don’t—that’s not my talent. Ideas I get up the kazoo, but sitting down to write them, I just don’t have it.
Going back to A Good Person. Your character in the film calls himself a good person. Is that how you want to be remembered? Or what do you want your legacy to be?
[Pauses] My daughter asks me that. I don’t know. I mean, who am I? What am I? Who cares? You know what I’m saying? However I’m going to be remembered is how I’m going to be remembered, so me wishing for it, it’s not going to change that.
What would you consider your biggest professional and personal accomplishments?
Well, professional, I don’t know—I suppose one of the big moments, [one of the] high points for me was playing Mandela with Clint Eastwood directing. Personal, it’s surviving a storm at sea in a little boat.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.