Kam Williams: Mr. Freeman, thanks so much for the time. I’m honored to be speaking with you.
Morgan Freeman: Well, thank you.
KW: First, let me say congratulations on winning the National Board of Review’s Best Actor Award for Invictus.
MF: Thank you very much.
KW: Was making this movie a labor of love? I heard that it was something that you’d wanted to do for a long time.
MF: Well, it wasn’t necessarily this project, but I felt destined to do something about Mandela. I don’t know whether you know that in 1992, when he published his autobiography, he was asked who he would want to play him, if the book ever became a movie. And he named me. So, I was sort of the chosen one, as it were. Therefore, I expected that eventually I would play him, but we always thought it would be in a movie version of “Long Walk to Freedom.” It didn’t turn out that way, however.
KW: But you obviously also liked Invictus.
MF: My partner and I thought that this story was ideal. This one, we felt was perfect to go with.
KW: Are you referring to your partner in Madidi restaurants and Ground Zero blues club?
MF: No, to my producing partner, Lori McCreary.
