The role Morgan Freeman desperately wanted to play: “I would commit crimes for that”
The list of actors who’ve been arrested or spent time in prison is a long one, but none of them have intentionally broken the law in the name of securing a part for themselves, something Morgan Freeman was willing to do when throwing his hat into the ring for an upcoming movie.
Obviously, had he followed through on his threats, there’s a chance he wouldn’t have been able to play it, considering stars behind bars aren’t granted release to show up on set to perform a role that they were so desperate to secure that they lived up their word and got on the wrong side of the legal system.
He didn’t go that far, and things worked out pretty well for the veteran, all things considered. Freeman’s career as a working actor may have kicked off back in the mid-1960s, but it would be another two decades before he finally made a name for himself in cinema with a breakthrough performance in Street Smart.
Ruthless pimp Leo ‘Fast Black’ Smalls earned him the first Academy Award nomination of his career for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, and a slew of doors in Hollywood suddenly swung open. There was one in particular that Freeman had his sights firmly set on, though, even if there was no guarantee he’d get the call.
Playwright Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy originated as an off-Broadway production in 1987, and it wasn’t long before studios were sniffing around the feature film rights. Less than two years later, the big screen adaptation was in production, even if it remains unclear whether or not Freeman had to engage in any illicit activities to reprise the part of Hoke Colburn.
He’d won plenty of acclaim for his work on the stage but remained something of an unknown quantity in cinema. Fortunately, his Oscar nod for Street Smart was announced around the same time as Driving Miss Daisy began its run, leaving the actor confident that his chances of sticking around as Hoke had just been given a welcome boost.
“I would commit crimes for that,” he told New York Magazine of his desire to be transplanted from stage to screen in the Driving Miss Daisy film. “But otherwise, I don’t want to get involved. It’s just the whole system is carrying me along. If your luck holds, it might lead to more work. But conversely, if it doesn’t you might not even be in the business. Believe me, I know something about that.”
Of course, Freeman was hired by director Bruce Beresford as the only holdover from the stage to act in Driving Miss Daisy, a performance that netted him his second Oscar nomination and first for ‘Best Actor’ in a movie that turned out to be one of the most controversial ‘Best Picture’ winners in the ceremony’s history.
Strangely, he was willing to commit crimes to get it, but it was a picture he’d come to regret.
