Morgan Freeman names the best movie of his career: “It was an entertaining film”
He may have had to wait until he was 50 years old before breaking into movies in a major way, but Morgan Freeman didn’t let his status as a relatively late cinematic bloomer deter him from racking up a raft of onscreen classics.
However, the veteran does have a complicated relationship with several of his finest works. Having originated the role on Broadway, he was the standout candidate to reprise the part of Hoke Coleburn in the feature-length adaptation of Driving Miss Daisy, which won the Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’ and earned Freeman his first nomination in the ‘Best Actor’ category.
It was named the finest film of 1989 by the most prestigious event on the Hollywood calendar, only for the star to voice his regrets and frustrations in the years to come. Of course, Driving Miss Daisy is regularly named as one of the least deserving ‘Best Picture’ winners ever, so he’s hardly alone on that front. In contrast, The Shawshank Redemption is one of those very rare movies that nobody ever has a bad word to say about.
Apart from Freeman, who’s been open in blasting the uplifting prison drama and reiterating that he’s sick of being constantly asked about it. He didn’t enjoy the process, had issues with director Frank Darabont, and has grown weary of it being the one picture he can barely go a day without being quizzed on.
Neither of them ranks as his favourite entry in his filmography, though, even if another cast member won the most plaudits and hoovered up the most trophies during awards season after Denzel Washington emerged as its breakout star. When asked by The Guardian which of his credits stood head and shoulders above the rest of the pack as his finest onscreen hour, there was only one name ready to roll off Freeman’s tongue.
“Glory,” he said. “Because it was an entertaining film, but it was also a lesson in history. When I was growing up I learned American history from the movies. But only white people were history. You know, you’d see a movie set in the future after the world has been bombed out of existence, and only a few people are left, and you realise those few people are white. I thought, wait a minute, where’s everybody else?”
Comparing Ed Zwick’s historical war epic to a dystopian sci-fi isn’t a typical way for an actor to celebrate their best movie, but Freeman isn’t being obtuse. As well as Glory‘s merits as a piece of Hollywood-produced entertainment, he appreciated that it was shining a light on a period of history that was rarely mentioned in the mainstream, never mind used as the subject of a hard-hitting drama rooted in the history of his home country.
He might be happy to lambast The Shawshank Redemption whenever the opportunity arises, but Freeman will never have a negative thing to say about Glory.
