Morgan Freeman isn’t waiting around for the perfect script.
The Oscar winner recently told The New York Times that if the paycheck is big enough, he’s willing to overlook a few problems with a movie’s screenplay.
“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,” Freeman explained. “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.”
Fair enough.
Freeman did add that he’ll speak up when something in a script doesn’t sit right with him.
“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,” the Oscar winner said.
At 89, Freeman has little left to prove. He’s a five-time Oscar nominee who won Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby, and he’s still adding new credits to an already lengthy résumé. His most recent movie was 2025’s Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, in which he once again played Thaddeus Bradley, a role he’s held throughout the magician franchise.
That’s one of several major franchises Freeman has been part of, along with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, where he played Lucius Fox.
And don’t expect him to call it quits anytime soon.
Freeman recently told The Times that he shares Clint Eastwood’s philosophy when it comes to getting older and continuing to work.
“I’m like Clint Eastwood on that: Don’t let the old man in,” Freeman told The Times about continuing to act as he nears 90 years old. “So, keep working. If you can get out of bed and don’t fall down when you do it, then you just count your blessings and keep moving. So, I’ll work as long as I can — as long as somebody says, ‘Do you want to do this part?’ ”
He’s said essentially the same thing before. In an interview with The Guardian, Freeman dismissed the idea of retirement, saying: “Sometimes the idea of retirement would float past me but, as soon as my agent says there’s a job or somebody wants you or they’ve made an offer, the whole thing just boils back into where it was yesterday: how much you’re going to pay, where we’re gonna be?”
So, yes, Freeman has a price. But as long as Hollywood keeps calling, he’ll apparently keep picking up.
