To call Morgan Freeman a legend when it comes to acting would be an understatement. Freeman’s best movies — such as The Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy and Million Dollar Baby — have more than proven that he’s one of the greatest performers of all time. But his esteemed reputation didn’t stop his A Good Person director, Zach Braff, from asking him to do multiple takes. And as it turns out, the Oscar winner had a hilarious response to being asked.
It’s true that whether Morgan Freeman is playing a world leader or lending his triumphant voice to the narration of his documentaries, he comes off as being relatively flawless. However, it doesn’t mean he won’t be asked to perform multiple takes during a given production. Zach Braff spoke to our own ReelBlend podcast about what it was like directing Freeman on A Good Person. It would seem that the two creatives forged a strong relationship, which is why Braff could only chuckle after revealed Freeman’s one-word response to doing more than one take:
Well, the funny thing about Morgan is, you do take one and you’re like, ‘That was awesome, guys. We’re gonna go again!’ And you hear, ‘Why?’ [laughs]
I mean, guess the 85-year-old star felt he nailed it right the first time? In his defense, he has been doing this for over 50 years and would likely know when something feels good. Not to mention, he’s tried his hand at directing too, courtesy of the 1993 political drama Bopha! and three episodes of Madam Secretary. Still, you can’t fault his director for wanting to have different options when he eventually gets into the editing process.
Zach Braff made his directorial debut with his indie project The Garden State and has worked with a number of great talents in front of and behind the camera. During the interview, he spoke more about his favorite part of working with such esteemed actors in a directorial capacity:
But here’s the thing. The truth is, I’ve worked with De Niro as an actor. I’ve worked with Morgan, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, and I just directed Harrison Ford for Shrinking. I’ve been so lucky to work with some of these amazing legends. They want to be directed. They don’t want someone who’s intimidated, who’s going to be wide-eyed and afraid of them. That’s their nightmare. They want someone with a point of view. They certainly don’t want to be told how to act. I would never do that. But it’s a conversation. They want to be stimulated by a conversation.
As suggested by his comments, asking someone to do multiple takes is absolutely not a way of critiquing their acting. It’s more about collaborating with an actor, sharing your point of view and how you see the scene working. Clearly things worked out in the case of Morgan Freeman. In A Good Person, Freeman plays a father, who forms a bond with his would-be-daughter-in-law (Florence Pugh) years after his son’s death.
Zach Braff was fortunate enough to get to see the Bruce Almighty actor shoot scenes at his hometown high school, as the Scrubs alum always tries to give his films a personal touch. If I saw my favorite high-profile actor roaming around my alma mater, I’d probably be excited myself. If you want to know more about the experiences Braff had while making his latest movie, take a look at the full ReelBlend interview below:
It may still sound somewhat weird that Zach Braff asked Morgan Freeman to do multiple takes, but surely it was all for the betterment of their movie. You can see Freeman’s performance for yourself in Braff’s A Good Person, which is one of the most notable 2023 new movie releases, by checking it out in theaters now.