Money can trump a bad script in Hollywood, Morgan Freeman admits
Oscar winner Morgan Freeman got candid about how he chooses movie roles — and what can, sometimes, outrank a flawed script.
Out doing press for the third season of Special Ops: Lioness, Morgan Freeman didn’t sugarcoat how he decides what to say yes to. While talking up his return as U.S. Secretary of State Edwin Mullins on Paramount+, the Oscar winner told The New York Times that sometimes the paycheck matters as much as the prose.
“If somebody offers you a job, it’s very nice if they’re offering you also an exciting script, but in reality, two or three things come into play...What are they going to pay you? If they’re going to pay you enough, then you overlook some of the glitches in the script that happen to be there.”
Freeman’s point wasn’t that the writing doesn’t count—only that it’s one factor among several. He added that scripts are rarely set in stone and that actors can push for fixes before cameras roll.
“Sometimes you can mention things that are in the script that don’t quite work out for you and by and large, that gets worked out,” he said to The New York Times.
The candor lands differently coming from someone with his résumé. Freeman is a five-time Academy Award nominee and won his Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, a career that’s stretched across six decades and more than a few modern classics. His comments offer a pragmatic peek at the business calculations most performers tend to keep private.
Not slowing down
Now approaching 90, Freeman has shown little interest in easing off, aligning with Clint Eastwood’s “don’t let the old man in” mantra as he keeps taking on new work. That includes Taylor Sheridan’s spy drama, where he’s back as America’s top diplomat in the new run.
Freeman reprises Edwin Mullins in the third season of Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+.