Why Morgan Freeman didn’t care for the biggest night of his career: “I kind of resent it”
Hollywood is a lot like high school when you think about it, with hierarchies and competitions designed to keep a select few of the most popular folk reigning at the top as the supreme leaders of the world’s most glamorous and illustrious industry.
Of course, so much of this is an illusion, and this world of stardom and fan devotion is full of corruption, jealousy, and scandal. Still, each year, film fans eagerly await the biggest night of the year – the ultimate popularity contest – the Oscars. The annual awards ceremony crowns the best of the best, or at least just a handful of the most well-known stars.
Some actors find themselves completely caught up in the buzz of awards season, hoping to be crowned ‘Best Actor’ or ‘Best Actress’, while others aren’t so bothered, like Morgan Freeman. The legendary star was nominated by the Academy three times before he won his first Oscar in 2004 for Million Dollar Baby, but he actually claims to “resent” the competition.
The Oscars are hardly a true indication of who has given the greatest performance in cinema that year. You only have to look at the evidence – some of the most celebrated actors, from Isabelle Huppert to Willem Dafoe, have never won a golden statuette. Yet, somehow, Rami Malek has one for his awful performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. It doesn’t make sense.
For Freeman, the whole idea of pitting actors against each other is just stupid, because art shouldn’t become a contest. Talking to CBS News, the actor revealed, “At the end of this process, four of us are going to be losers. I kind of resent it,” adding, “Who likes feeling like a loser, you know? That’s why, you lost that one, you lost that time. Oh, you think it’s finally your time to win one. Win…what are you going to win? I win a doorstop, you know?”
Freeman was surely glad enough to win his Oscar for Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, but it seems like in his ideal world, the concept would be scrapped altogether. He says this despite the fact that he is quite highly favoured by the Academy, which nominated him once again in 2010 for his role in Invictus, while a documentary he narrated, March of the Penguins, took home ‘Best Documentary Feature’ in 2005.
Despite his distaste for this competitive race, the actor appears to have known he was going to win an Oscar at some point in his career, even having a cabinet made by a friend back in 1998, which included a space to host his future prize.
Appearing on The Ellen Show, he once explained that his pal “put a sign in the centre, top shelf, that sign said, ‘No parking, reserved for Oscar.’” Just a few years later, he was able to add an Oscar to his collection, a symbol of his ultimate success in Hollywood.
He might “resent” the whole system, but he’s certainly not going to refuse the chance to display this reflection of his stardom on his specially-designed shelf.
