LOS ANGELES -- There was an actor Nelson Mandela had in mind when asked in 1995 who should play him in a movie of his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom." Morgan Freeman was that man.
"From then on it was Morgan Freeman was going to play Nelson Mandela somewhere down the line," Freeman says in an interview about the Clint Eastwood movie "Invictus," in which he plays Mandela.
But, Freeman's performance is not based on Mandela's book. The story is based on John Carlin's "Playing the Enemy," a book that chronicles how the then president of South Africa challenged the country's rugby team to win the 1995 World Cup to show the world how the country had started to heal after the end of Apartheid.
Freeman, who is also the executive producer of "Invictus," tried for nearly a decade to turn Mandela's autobiography into a film. He had better luck with adapting "Playing the Enemy," and he is happy it allows him to finally play Mandela.
"This was the role to play to give the world an insight into who Mandela is and how he operates. It's perfect," Freeman says.
After Mandela's casting declaration, Freeman told the man he calls Madiba (an honorary title adopted by elders of Mandela's clan) that he needed to have access to his life to play the role. Freeman visited with Mandela frequently in his travels.
"I told him I had to be close enough to hold his hand," Freeman says.
The importance of who he was playing never left Freeman. But the actor, who won an Oscar for Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby," approached the role with the same energy and attitude he's brought to the job for four decades. To Freeman, acting isn't a job. It's playing. And despite the serious nature of "Invictus," this film was just another chance to play.
"It might have become more if I was working with someone other than Clint Eastwood. He's is so enabling and out of your way as an actor. He likes to watch actors play," Freeman says.
And in this case, it was for a role Freeman was set to play years ago.
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