Morgan Freeman really wants to work with Ridley Scott

Morgan Freeman has worked with some big names, but there’s one director that eludes him.

Morgan Freeman has worked with some of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood, including David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and three times with Clint Eastwood.

But there’s one director he’s desperate to work with.

“Ridley Scott. I’d cut off one of my fingers if he required it,” Freeman revealed in a Q&A for AACTA ScreenFest.

“I have spoken with him. I’ve been in his company. I’ve practically genuflected telling him ‘I’m a big, big, big fan, if ever there was anything you think you might want me to try and do, just whistle’.

“There are a lot of directors right now, including ones I’ve never worked with, I would jump if they called me. Kathryn Bigelow. There are many more.”

Morgan Freeman has been nominated for five Oscars, winning one. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)

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Freeman, an Oscar winner for Million Dollar Baby, plus nominations for Invictus, The Shawshank Redemption, Street Smart and Driving Miss Daisy, is known for his acting prowess but his fans may not know he too has been in the director’s chair.

Freeman directed one film in 1993, Bopha!, starring Danny Glover as a black apartheid-era police officer struggling to fulfil his official duties while balancing it with the expectations of his community and his son.

Bopha! didn’t make its budget back but it was well-reviewed by critics at the time.

Freeman didn’t direct anything again for more than 20 years, helming three episodes of TV series Madam Secretary, which his production company Revelations also produced.

Morgan Freeman said he wants to work with Ridley Scott (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)

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Asked why he took so long to direct again, Freeman said: “I wasn’t ready to change careers, that’s for sure. I’m an actor and I’m not as good as many others in directing myself. I don’t think I’m quite that accomplished.

“And there was no directing job that I thought I wanted to do right now has appeared. There were some things at my company that I thought, ‘yeah, we can make this happen, I’m going to direct it, or I’d like to direct it.

“But you get a project and sometimes it takes 15 or 20 years on the shelf before it can come to fruition. ‘We want to do this’ and ‘I want to direct it’ and then you have to find the resources. Ask anybody, that’s not easy.

“Clint Eastwood shelved the William Munny Killings for years and that became Unforgiven. You learn over time that things happen in their own time. When we did Invictus, that thing came together within a year. Its time was here.”

Morgan Freeman has worked with Clint Eastwood three times

Freeman’s Q&A is one of many free-to-watch sessions in the AACTA ScreenFest.

The virtual screen culture festival is presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, and it’s the first year the program has been run.

Other sessions include Q&As and panels with filmmakers from Pixar, The Mandalorian, Wentworth, Mystery Road, Mulan, Bluey and Mindhunter.

The festival runs until December 16.

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