Morgan Freeman | Full Q&A | Oxford Union

how do you do sir mr. friend great so you had quite an interesting childhood moving from Chicago back to the south and battery kavya again now how big a role did acting play in the early part of your life and if not was there a particular moment when you thought this is what you wanted to do how early you want to go i got on stage the very first time when i was 8 years old i was brilliant then I got on stage again four years later when I was 12 brilliant again so by the time I was 13 it was pretty much a foregone conclusion and everybody else's mine teachers parents that acting was gonna be my thing I hadn't like made a conscious decision I'm going to be an actor I don't think you do I think you just that's what you do and what about your parents were they what your mom in particular was she's supportive of you very very very very very she was my best audience and a miss in all circumstances yeah okay and I understand that when you were a teenager you were particularly fascinated with war films and in particularly you were intrigued by the idea of being a pilot and I know that before you threw yourself into acting you did spend some time with the US Air Force how did your experience there shape your acting career if we look clearly and indeed what lessons did you say would you say you learned from your time in the military I learned a lot while I was in military um I I went to the movies all the time I put pretty much lived in the movies whenever I had spare time or forever 13 cents and that period we were brief fighting World War two you know so yes I decided by age 15 that I wanted to be a jet pilot so I got had a lot of trouble in school flying teachers droning on and I'm I'm climbing on 15,000 feet and then I went into the Air Force because I really did want flying and if the quickest ticket out of Mississippi to elsewhere in the world and I learned very quickly that that wasn't to happen I was not gonna be a jet pilot and that I was not cut out for the military you don't question authority in the military and so but I still was kind of going for it and I got to go to the flight line at North Island Naval Air Station down there Coronado California and I got to sit in the cockpit of a t-33 jet trainer joystick glass knobs dials dings red button no camera this isn't it that's when I decided acting what's going to be it okay and so with regards to was it always just a choice between acting and being a pilot or was there anything else that you ever considered never ever considered anything else well I was I did yes in 1980 December to be exact I did my last TV movie I say last TV movie because in 1981 phone didn't ring and in 1982 the phone didn't ring and so I decided wrong about some of 1982 that okay so your 15 minutes are up you better start thinking of something else because I wasn't paying any rent what else to do what do I want to do go drop a cab I like driving maybe get a chauffeur's license and be more upgrade and I was pick today that I was going to go to the Taxi and Limousine Commission to try and get my license and the day before I decided to go I got a call from my agent Paul Newman is casting moss to seal I go see Paul Newman I auditioned for a read for a part and he says that part is already cast dang which I've seen you earlier is that fine okay no worries so Paul is going to be producer director and star and I said well you've got a big job ahead of you and I'm very happy very glad you let me come in do you see me all much of daughter see ya cuz I knew her and I hadn't met him before off-broadway things that we did there so I leave and I'm at the elevator and he comes running down the hall and he said wait come back come back coming says I have another part maybe you would like to do this guy's name is Seema now ski yeah so I just a little roll of this factory superintendent one day shoot but it's like getting the job it's like having money in your pocket if you got it you can get it strangely enough so this was in September by October I had a TV job an off-broadway show I was directing a play and I was going to be in January going to do this movie it's called harian sons go figure so I didn't have to go get a cab drive lucky place and so you meant you talked a little bit about just the sheer variety of genres and types of show and types of acting that you've done which type is your personal favorite ignoring all the other things that come with it I don't understand types of acting okay so on Broadway TV film different places different places I had frettin loads for this no filmless my absolute favorite because I always wanted to be in the movies I didn't really my dream was not to be a stage actor it was to be a movie actor be in the movies to you know to do everything so of the all of the different types of acting movie acting is my favorite and I you know I did a lot of TV 20 years on stage and it was fun but it's just it didn't hit that button you know and within kind of films obviously such a you've acted in such a huge number of genres and is there one that you particularly enjoy and so comedies you've been god this is quite a few different areas that you can look at no no it doesn't matter to me what what I'm doing I enjoy it all I want to do it all have its thing you know I'm so okay so what would you like to be in life well I like to be a policeman a farmer and a doctor a lawyer so I can do that and how do you prepare for those roles I mean with each role when you I read the script it's all you got to do just read the screen the script now if you're going to play somebody what what no huh if you're gonna play some living person or person who's lived recently enough us all to know what they sound like and look like then you have to do some extensive research you know just to do the mimicking correctly I mean the obvious question of the seats you played Mandela Invictus exactly I'm talking a little bit about but what how you delve into it because to a lot of people you became Mandela it wasn't your take on Mandela no I had done a living person mosque before a movie called lean on me played a teacher a school principal named Joe Clark and we shot at the school that he was the principal of and he was there every day very incredible man and I would follow him around and literally hold his hand that's the energy quotient and guess he couldn't do that for mr. Mandela yeah I did so when Madiba announced do you know the story this it you don't know the story of this here's the story of this he published long walk to freedom and at a press conference her reporter said if your book becomes a movie who would you want to play you and he said so I am The Anointed One as it were so from then and the producer who had had the rise to its name in annexing Anna arranged a meeting with me and Madiba in Joburg and I met him I told him how honored I was but the endorsement it's ever said etc and if I'm going to play you I have to have access you said fine so I said I mean real access I have to be able to hold your hand he said we can do that so we did over years and would meet him in different places we met in Monaco we met in Washington we met in New York we even met in Memphis Tennessee and each time I was called to his side and I sat with him and walked with him talked with him but always watching and listening so everything all right just kidding and that went on for years so by the time we got around to doing Invictus I thought I had just about everything nailed except the sound cuz I don't do access I'm not one of those actors who's facile with with accents but I managed to get him out and I'm guessing spending years preparing for a role so do you think that the more time you prepare for a role that the better your performance will be just too young any young actors out there or sometimes as I say it depends on the role in movies you get a script and you read it right away they've given you all of the background I tell you what the character looks like some writers even want to tell you what this character sounds like and they have all these little direct in his script about maybe idiosyncrasies so it's it's all on the page for you you don't have to English say if you're gonna play a doctor but God say you don't have to go and spend a week in the hospital we did the Shawshank Redemption the guys wouldn't spend a week in jail what did you learn nothing so no didn't know preparation event and the other part of that whole story is that I'm not what they call a method actor I just read the script and and stumble through it a teacher once said who was what was the name Herbert Berghof he said I fall in the category of intuitive actor I just into it and do it I just made that up okay I'm staying on the Shawshank Redemption now obviously nowadays it's widely regarded as one of the best films of all time and indeed you got your second or third Academy Award nomination for it and moving on so how did your experience in that film and particular way that it's but people's perception of the film has changed over time so from my understanding initially it was a success and it's even just grown even bigger since how does that affect the way that you respond to when scripts are put in front of you can you tell what's going to be a particularly successful film no no no no no there's no way there's no way to ever tell what's going to be successful because you have to wait till an audience says it's successful you know you just go and do your best and enjoy yourself when I read the script for Shawshank Redemption nobody said what role to play and I called maids and said what role I'll do anything in here any role they want me to do I'll do he said they want you to play red that wouldn't be nice like what movie I own it good so just saying on success you just there you seem to imply that you can't judge judge success until the audience gets to see it does that mean box office revenues to you the most important kind of barometer or is it Academy Awards or well all that goes together box-office success is actually it stands alone because the box-office success when the Shawshank Redemption came out with dom and dumber you've snuck my laugh well no but that you know just the juxtaposition of box office and and what's that other term critical shot ain't got really good reviews but because nobody could say Shawshank Redemption it didn't get word of mouth and I don't care how much you promote a film if you don't have word of mouth you may promote it people have to be able now even go and say listen I saw this really terrific film it was called shank Sam Jim chunk got on the elevator in LA one day and later said oh I just saw you in the hudsucker reduction so that was the reason it was not a box-office success no word of mouth at all so nowadays when a script lands in front of you what it goes through your head I mean are you looking to do something new are you looking to work with solar hopefully hopefully I'm going to do something new but I'm almost guaranteed to be somebody with gravitas actually on that point so you'll portrayed in most of your films nowadays in a certain way and I was surprised I think this is a fact that your first onscreen kiss was in 1990 with Renee Zellweger d now that was almost that's almost 35 years after at least by that metric that you started your career why do you think do you think that's a particular problem was is there any reason that you feel you've been typecast in that way I have no regret about fashion actually that's all wrong my first onscreen kiss was under picture called street smart I played a pimp and I kissed a woman on screen again moving on in your one of the roles at your most famous for and at least to a lot of the people in the audience today was in your role of God in Bruce Almighty and you have actually also been relatively outspoken on religion and called it a human construct how did that affect the way that you portrayed God no done you can't I defy anyone to say okay I'm going to play the role of God and then change themselves into something other than themselves am I right or wrong you put on a robe does God wear a robe are there stars and moon things on the road no right you know no I'm right thank you very much now a number of kind of prominent actors and actresses cite you as one of their main inspirations growing up or in your early career as an actor who did you look up to certainly Poitier blows up Sidney was a black actor at a time when it was only one doing what he was doing and so in the general atmosphere of life you say well I want to be a movie actor and people just sort of say well good luck with that so but then there is Sidney Sidney and saying no no you can do it it can't be done here I am so all right here I come and you just mentioned there kind of a black actor and you've spoken in the past about how you don't like the term african-american no I don't mind the term african-american I don't want to be called african-american why is that I'm not Africa so yes staying on the issue of race and did you ever face discrimination in your career at the start deuce do you still feel that it happens nowadays I mean what is your view of the issue of race in Hollywood I don't think there was an issue of race in Hollywood somewhere back there in the 70s the decision was made by almost all and sundry that we have to start open casting now if you look on television you pretty much see the range of cultural that's not the right word because we all belong to the same culture which is anyway but to see everybody and I think that Hollywood learned in the 70s or his his his his reality I see Davis directed a movie called cotton comes to Harlem it made hundreds of millions of dollars and of course Hollywood is colorblind it only sees green if it makes money it's a good thing therefore the walls came tumbling down that was that started that whole blaxploitation period maybe before your time a little bit about 30 years yeah okay yeah and I guess staying on the issue of discrimination I guess and in recent months years there's been more and more outspoken actresses talking about the unfair portrayal of women in Hollywood do you think that that's fair the unfair all portrait of women in Hollywood they're portrayed in a certain way which objects well wait a minute Meryl Streep Cate Blanchett Julia Roberts Meryl Renee Zellweger Charlize Theron uma Thurman Nicole Kidman I don't I don't know I don't think there was an on their portrait of women in Hollywood thank you I don't I don't if someone thinks differently we'll talk about that nobody does don't know that do you sir do you have an opinion I think as you said Hollywood and the only color is green and if society has a problem with objectifying women I think Hollywood latches on to it mate and okay if you think that's true do you think Hollywood has a duty to project women in a different way to how society might view them in a more positive light well not even positive in a different light Hollywood Allah sees it as one duty stay in business whatever that takes so they don't get on a social high horse and go you know running through the bushes we make movies to make money to make movies that bottom line and stepping back a little bit and I've said we had wrong term to use I'm not about personify Hollywood they're not throw yes stepping back a little bit so with Invictus you worked with Clint Eastwood and he's directed that you've worked regularly with in the past um do you have a favorite director to work with that one makes sense why is that I like him I like his sensibilities I like the way he bronze has said I like the fact that he's really quick if he does - he takes he's a little angry about it he doesn't tell actors what to do he doesn't even direct actors he direct the movie you come on set he tells you where the cameras gonna be well rehearse it and that's it we go and we shoot it and he's dead say he never says action and he never says cut when he gets when you just get everything ready to go he said any any time so you start whenever you want to and when he thinks he's got enough on film he says if that ought to do it or something like that I he's everybody that I know who has worked with him feel the same way about him and kind of staying on the directions point do you feel that your relationship and the way that directors treat you has changed obviously as you have become more and more of an icon that's hard to say because of the treatment has chairmat sure the treatment of me has changed so much as I have changed in my attitude with directors how how is the Austin see changed stars here now I know I'm not I feel very secure in my personhood you know I mean I've always felt secure in my ability but you don't know if anybody else sees your ability right off yeah I have had directors tell me to do stuff on screen that I knew was wrong and you try to tell them it's not right so rather than create a schism say okay I'll do one for you and I'll do one for me and if they do bad and they're not looking at this little monitor they've seen it on the big screen they come back and they'll tell you you're right and so what advice would you give purely in an acting sense to yourself 30 40 years ago same advice I gave myself 30 to 40 years old ago job act there are unfortunately those of us who say well I'm gonna be a star that's way out there in the ether somewhere I won't be a working actor you can pull that off so act work work I someone asked me and Watson you were about to do it what would you do if you weren't an act if you didn't make it as an actor what would you do I have no idea I would act somewhere maybe I'd be driving a cab maybe I'm working somebody's yard whatever I'm doing I'm going to belong to somebody's little theatre group I will act cuz I'll die if I don't and so pure writers write painters paint actors act how much do you think someone could learn to be an actor and say oh and it particularly learn the love for acting that you quite clearly have is that is it possible to teach can you could you try and be famous and try and do it through acting or do you feel that you have to want to do acting and then you'll become famous yeah the latter yeah yeah you I want to be famous so I'm going to be an actor you're gonna die miserably no I think of acting the same way I don't think of it as an art form but I do think of it as the same way that any any what do you call okay any profession you do it because you have to do it if if you spend twenty years waiting tables at night if you were a writer you're writing and it's the same thing with any discipline painters paint I don't care what else they have to do to put food on the table or pay the rent their paint and I think that's the same way all the way around so to me sense staying on your career and to kind of questions both on side of the same two sides of the coin so what was the most frustrating moment of your career and was there or has there been a moment when you think yeah this is a peak the most frustrating moment of my career yeah has there been one you just loved it no there have been a lot of frustrating moments the mozart i have no idea what the most was I interviewed formulas Foreman for ragtime but I read the book I'm going to read the book cold house Walker that's me I got that going away I had just gotten all kinds of accolades for Broadway play that I'd done I was the talk of the town surely you've heard of me haven't you so I didn't get the job and just like one little moment in your life when you realized that okay humility still hit with me I got her back away and the best was it the Academy Award was there another particular role that you really really enjoyed and you felt you played perfectly yeah everyone's something as I said this this movie I did where I played a pimp I really really really enjoyed and I really really enjoyed doing Hoke Colburn and Driving Miss Daisy I did it both on the stage and on screen and it was somebody I really knew well you know and I really enjoyed playing Madiba really really enjoyed it I enjoyed working with the plant on Million Dollar Baby and on Unforgiven rose I always wanted to do a Western then here comes Clint Eastwood saying hey come on let's ride along on this one try this way and going forward is there anything anyone in particular that you really want to work with that you haven't yet had the opportunity to and why what do you mean why why do I want to work with this person or why haven't I worked with this person both actually I meant that double question okay yeah there are a number but you know anytime anybody asked me that question Meryl Streep just bursts out of me terrific as an actress that yeah but they were are just a whole list of people that I had loved to work with that I haven't had a shot at a couple more kind of just final questions from me now you um so I was really surprised when it turns out that you don't travel with an entourage for someone and if he's are one of the most famous actors of our generation and do you feel that it does it frustrate you how closely acting is linked to that has become to celebrity culture and do you think that's a good thing or do you feel that's not a huge problem for you now it's not a huge problem at all I think that's a good thing it's a good thing because it's done you know as an actor I go to someplace or let's say Prague if you go to some of these film festivals and little countries Poland they treat you like you're visiting dignitary I've had police escorts to take me from place to place gee who is so that's okay and it's not - it's not to mind but the trick to me is to remember that this is all just some surface can I say both getting here it just saw the surface it's not really real so don't go around thinking that you're entitled to this you know and I don't have bodyguards and non-tourage and stuff I do but only when I'm working I have a I have a team and then you would think that Florida sky really thinks a lot of himself because I have my own hairdresser my own makeup my own I have a personal assistant I am a driver and I just have them because why not you give somebody they're gonna hire them anyway they're gonna hire somebody to do that so-and-so they work when I work that's that's all it's just about jobs does that ever distract from when you really want to focus in on acting when you might have to do a media interview or some promo for a film does that get frustrating work for it right when it does it often happen that your acting work and your desire to focus in on the script you it clashes with some of the promotional stuff that you might have to do for a film no it doesn't clash it doesn't clash at all you usually don't do a lot of promotional stuff until it's done then you have to do the promotional stuff that's where the real work comes in yeah but you're normally they don't they will say well we're gonna have an e PK team on set but that's fine they won't bother you and I'm not one of those actors who you're an actor you're getting ready to do a scene and that's somebody standing there and you go that person is in my eyeline what's an eyeline people they say well you like that we have still photographers on on set every set has dealt the target Richmond area say well if I'm in your eyeline with the shut up I don't have an eyeline I mean it's like were you ever on stage I like I'm sorry I change it go ahead so do you think so just from that final part do you think it's important that the stuff that you gain from being on stage as an actor how much did that help you in your time on screen discipline and humility mostly disciplined stage calls for a lot more discipline than movies you can learn an entire play and then you got to say every word every night lord help you if you get it if you forget now if I have a forgotten yep that's why I say lord help you cause nobody else can and I guess the very very final question it's quite an off-the-wall question so you played Lucius Fox in Batman Begins which a lot of people have drawn parallels with Q in James Bond if you had to choose any one gadget that you would make Lucius Fox way what would it be that Kate that he could fly with the gliding on yeah see if you saved the Hummer you couldn't do much with it and I'll jump in bridges and you're not gonna do that and it burns an awful lot of fuel but that Kate just like hang gliding you bit more dangerous because it's not real at all you're sandbagging me now okay well unfortunately that is everything that we have time for this evening and so I'd just like you all to join me in thanking for the final time mr. Morgan you

Channel: OxfordUnion

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Keywords: Union, Society, University, Debates, Debating, Interview, Morgan Freeman (Film Actor), acting, Oxford Union, morgan freeman, actor, american actor, shawshank redemption, almighty films

Id: VFKlbYeXBQ8

Length: 41min 55sec (2515 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 23 2015