The movie that let Morgan Freeman down the most: “I had a beautiful expectation”
Widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, if not of all time, just the voice of Morgan Freeman alone is enough to make your ears prick up and your hairs stand on their ends. It goes without saying, Freeman is a hero of Hollywood and has assured his position in the annals of cinematic history for years to come.
Like many of the best actors, Freeman began his career largely on the stage, appearing in a number of Shakespeare plays, such as Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. However, it was on the big screen that Freeman made his most significant impressions, delivering some of the all-time great movie efforts.
Among some of his best roles are the likes of Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus, although there are countless other turns that he has given throughout his career that have contributed to his status as a genuine legend of the acting profession.
Still, even the greatest actors of all time look back on their brilliant careers at moments they wished might have gone differently, and in that light, Freeman is no different. In fact, the Tennessee-born star once reflected on the movie that he felt the most disappointed with in an interview with IGN.
That’s part of what makes a career like Freeman’s so interesting to look back on. When you’ve reached that level of consistency, the projects that don’t quite land tend to stand out more sharply, not because they are outright failures, but because they fall short of the standard he set for himself over decades.
It also speaks to how much faith actors have to place in the process. A script might read like something special, with all the right ingredients on the page, but once it moves into production, there are so many moving parts that can shift the end result in ways no one fully anticipates.
The film was The Power of One, directed by John G. Avildsen and released in 1992. Based loosely on Bryce Courtenay’s 1989 novel of the same name and also starring Stephen Dorff, John Gielgud and Daniel Craig in his feature film debut, the film takes place in World War II South Africa and tells of an English South African raised under apartheid, who has complex relationships with a German pianist, a black boxing coach, and an Afrikaner romantic interest.
Freeman had high hopes for the movie, but the truth was that it just didn’t land in the way that it ought to have. “I think that movie was one of those things where… well, the script read so well, and it looked so wonderful,” he said. “I had a beautiful expectation for it, but it didn’t evolve to be what it was supposed to be.”
The actor added, “It wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be. I can’t say particularly why, but I wasn’t as moved as when I was reading the script.”
Sure enough, Morgan experienced the kind of thing that many actors go through when they become excited by the potential of a movie’s script. However, things often change when that very script must become a proper production.
What appears good on the page might not necessarily translate to being good on the screen, and this may occur for any number of reasons. It’s a shame that The Power of One did not achieve the quality that Freeman had hoped for, considering its impressive cast and moving story, but that’s just the way that the movie industry sometimes goes; not everything can be a masterpiece.
Of course, Freeman cannot be too hard on himself, considering the kind of contributions that he has made to the cinematic medium throughout a career of genuine brilliance. Still, even the very best actors harbour regrets, and Freeman might never be able to escape the idea of what might have been when it came to John G. Avildsen’s 1992 drama.
