Morgan Freeman has double duty in CBS' 'Madam Secretary'
It might be daunting for a guy who hasn't directed in 22 years to oversee a show whose cast includes Morgan Freeman. Unless, of course, that guy is Morgan Freeman.
The Oscar-winning actor, whose acclaimed career includes roles in Million Dollar Baby, The Shawshank Redemption, Invictus and Driving Miss Daisy, directed the season premiere of CBS’ Madam Secretary (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET/PT), which follows a U.S. secretary of state (Téa Leoni) as she navigates job and family challenges. Freeman makes a brief appearance as a Supreme Court chief justice.
Freeman, 78, an executive producer of Secretary, says his producing partner Lori McCreary, who worked with him on 1993’s Bopha!, suggested he direct again.
“She likes the way I function on set and I like it, too. I had fun doing it,” Freeman says.
McCreary, also an executive producer, says she hoped Freeman would direct again and the season premiere was the right script and situation.
"It's a lovely experience to be with someone who enjoys the process of making film as much as Morgan does. When he's the leader, everyone jumps in line and follows suit and it feels extraordinary," she says.
Freeman says he trusts his actors do their jobs. On a TV series, “You don’t hire them to tell them how this character is supposed to be played. You hire them to do it themselves,” he says. “So, stay out of the way.”
His directing style, informed by acting experience, works for Leoni. "What's riveting is that he can achieve a complete tonal change in performance with the least amount of direction. That's an art," she says.
Freeman, who has played the president and God, conveys authority. "Everybody behaves better when Morgan is there," Leoni says. At the same time, "he's really fun. That would probably be surprising to others, because when we think of Morgan we think more of (him playing) the president or God, but he's very fun. He's charmingly playful."
What Freeman tries to provide on set is a protective environment. “I think part of the joy for actors working with directors who are actors is how much security there is, freedom to act, freedom to be,” he says.
Having the right ones helps. “Actors pretty much are quick studies. So, you hire that actor who (says), ‘I have this character.’ And you’re done,” Freeman says. “Mike Nichols taught me that.”
Over the years, he’s learned by observing such directing giants as Nichols, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher and Clint Eastwood. “Clint is a good study,” says Freeman, who won his Oscar for Eastwood’s 2005 boxing film Baby.
He says his brief appearance as the chief justice who gives the presidential oath to Leoni's Elizabeth McCord after the president’s plane disappears was the culmination of a joke of sorts during casting for the role.
The casting director “said, ‘OK, we’ll get Morgan to audition. Maybe we can make that happen.’ So, I actually auditioned,” he says.
Freeman says he’d like to pursue other directing opportunities, but he’s not quitting his day jobs.
He plays Ilderim in a 2016 version of Ben-Hur, explaining that he enjoyed the 1959 classic and had a good working experience with Ben-Hur director Timur Bekmambetov in 2008's Wanted.
Did that help him choose Ben-Hur over other roles? “Picking one (role) over another? In many cases, that is not really what I’m doing. I’m getting a job.”
Right now, he’s happy working with Oscar winners Alan Arkin and Michael Caine in a remake of 1979’s Going in Style, which follows three retired men who plan a bank heist.
“I’m having fun with Michael and Alan. With Michael, this is the sixth movie we’ve been in together,” Freeman says approvingly. “So, I’m in tall cotton here.”