From ‘Dreamcatcher to ‘Ted 2’: the movies Morgan Freeman admitted he only made for the money
There’s something refreshing about an actor who will freely admit when they’ve taken a paycheque gig. Too often, an esteemed thespian will agree to star as an obscure comic book character in the 16th entry in a cinematic universe and, when they’re interviewed about it, pretend that they hold some affinity for the character or were deeply inspired by the material. Morgan Freeman is not one of these actors. In among his highly acclaimed dramatic works, he’s starred in superhero movies, action films, horror flicks, lowbrow comedies, and potboiler thrillers – and if the fat paycheque was what sold him on a film, he’ll tell you.
Before getting started, it’s worth noting that Freeman has openly stated in the past that he has three golden rules for accepting film roles. He once told Parade magazine that these provisos are, “Who’s buying, who’s directing, and what does it pay?” Keep that in mind, then, when going through the parts he’s admitted to taking largely thanks to a hefty chunk of that third rule.
The first notable time that Freeman admitted he took a role for the almighty dollar came in 2003 when he starred in the Stephen King adaptation, Dreamcatcher. Despite a strong cast including TV veterans like Timothy Olyphant, Damian Lewis, and Jason Lee, Freeman was undoubtedly the biggest name in the film – and he had a big ol’ pair of fake bushy eyebrows to match. In truth, the movie was pretty terrible, and his performance as the unhinged parasitic alien-hunting Colonel Abraham Curtis was far from his best.
Guess what, though? Freeman didn’t care. When asked by Black Film if his character was crazier in King’s novel, he deadpanned, “I didn’t read the book, so I don’t know.” When the interviewer suggested they enjoyed his preposterous eyebrows in the film, he joked, “Bless your heart. You’re always looking for somebody to say, ‘Why the hell did you do that? I couldn’t get into the movie because I kept getting mixed up with your eyebrows?'” Then, when asked if Dreamcatcher is a friendship movie, an alien movie, or a psychological movie, Freeman grinned, “What if I said paycheque?”
The next money-motivated picture Freeman copped to was the third entry in a franchise he’s been involved with from the start – so it’s highly likely all three paid pretty damn well. When he was promoting Angel Has Fallen, Gerard Butler’s third go-around as Secret Service agent Mike Banning, Freeman was asked if the path his character Allan Trumbull took from Speaker of the House to Vice President to President of the United States over the course of the series was a motivator in returning. He practically laughed in the face of the journo, though, and replied, “Do you really want me to tell you that? Money. It’s the third in a franchise; it pays better than the first one.”
Finally, it may shock and appal you to learn that Freeman didn’t sign up for Seth MacFarlane’s Ted 2 because he’d always wanted to share the screen with an amusingly foul-mouthed stoner teddy bear. Indeed, while being interviewed by the Today show, the host waxed lyrical about how excited he was to see “the great Morgan Freeman” in the film. However, as the camera pushed in on Freeman’s iconic visage, he admitted, “I was so excited, and then I thought, ‘What’s he doing talking to a teddy bear?”
A semi-bashful Freeman bowed his head, then with a wry raise of one perfectly normal, non-bushy eyebrow, he said, “Would you like to know? Earning a living.” To his credit, he then played the game a little bit by saying how he found the movie hilarious, and he even claimed he laughed all the way through it. Brilliantly, though, when talk turned to the genres he enjoys acting in the most, he reverted again and stated, “If it pays, I enjoy doing it. I don’t choose roles for the gravitas; I just go for what I could see myself doing.”
Let that be a lesson to you, then: if you have the cash and a role for him in any genre, Freeman could probably envision himself making some time in his busy schedule.
