The actor Morgan Freeman always wanted to work with: “I would jump at the opportunity”
The list of acting titans Morgan Freeman has worked with in his extensive career is a who’s who of Hollywood’s last half-century. He’s starred alongside luminaries such as Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Jessica Tandy, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman, Michael Caine, Brad Pitt, and Scarlett Johansson. That’s a succession of screen partners that any actor would be envious of, but there’s one conspicuous thing that stands out: the men far outweigh the women. Indeed, Freeman once admitted that he had always wanted to share the screen with more of the great female actors. He even declared one star was on his bucket list to work with – and he’d feature in almost any film to make it happen.
Over the years, Freeman has been asked numerous times which stars he’d love to work with if given the opportunity. On a few occasions, he name-checked two of the biggest male stars of the modern era and admitted that he mainly signed on to a film to work with the first star.
In response to Collider asking him what prompted him to sign up for Joseph Kosinski’s 2013 sci-fi blockbuster Oblivion, Freeman instantly replied, “Tom Cruise. I mean, it’s a Tom Cruise movie. So, if I was going to be a truck driver hauling supplies, I would have taken the job.” Yes, that’s right – Freeman is a Cruise fanboy and has been for a very long time. He smiled, “I’m one of his huge fans. I have been for I don’t know how many years, way, way back.”
Around that time, Freeman also pointed to another A-lister he’d jump at the chance to share a scene with. He said that George Clooney is an actor he admires and would do everything he could to bring a collaboration into existence. He joked that there had to be a movie out there for them to do together and added, “Someone will come up with that and say, ‘Oh, what a make this is going to be!'”
After naming Cruise and Clooney, though, Freeman said, “I’ve been very lucky in being able to work with a lot of topnotch actors. There’s still a plethora of ’em out there that I have not gotten to work with, but I’m going to stick around. My time’s coming.”
Fast-forward a few years, though, and Collider once again asked Freeman if he’d updated his list. This time, Freeman was more thoughtful about his response and took the chance to take a step back and analyse his filmography. When asked, “Is there anyone you’d still really like to work with?” Freeman mused. “There are tons of people, but mostly women. I’ve worked with a lot of men. There aren’t that many that I haven’t had a shot at.”
It was a moment of rare self-awareness in a press junket interview that showed Freeman had been thinking seriously about his career in recent years. His list of credits, as impressive as it is, is defined predominantly by movies with male stars, and there truly aren’t many iconic ones he hasn’t shared the screen with. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the best female actors in Hollywood.
So, with that in mind, when Freeman said, “I’d love to work with Meryl Streep,” it resonated. After all, if he is going to work with more female actors, why not aim for the greatest of all time? This is why, when the interviewer enquired if he’d want to make a comedy with Streep, he admitted, “A comedy or anything else, I don’t care. Whatever it is, I would do it.”
In truth, it’s strange that Freeman and Streep’s paths haven’t crossed over the years, even in the six years after he announced his desire to work with her. Come on, Hollywood – make it happen.
