Morgan Freeman, Hollywood’s Pragmatist: The Art of Getting Paid
The creators who once jointly shaped The Shawshank Redemption have mostly entered their twilight years, with some even having passed away. Among all those still living, the oldest is Morgan Freeman—the Black actor who played the prison “fixer,” Red.
Born in 1937, Morgan Freeman just celebrated his 89th birthday in June. Despite his advanced age, he remains active in front of the camera, continuously rolling out works such as Lucy and Now You See Me. Just at the beginning of this month, the third season of the Paramount+ series Special Ops: Lioness, in which he stars, premiered on the platform.
During a recent interview with The New York Times, Freeman was asked what key factors lead him to agree to a script. His answer was somewhat unexpected: “How much are they willing to pay you? If their compensation is generous enough, some flaws in the script can be overlooked.”
As soon as these words came out, public opinion exploded. If a veteran actor with a career spanning over half a century places paychecks above scripts, what does it mean?
Tearing Down the “Late-Career” Myth?
Freeman has never concealed his practice of “acting for the money.” Long ago, he publicly shared his three golden rules for taking a role: “Who’s financing, who’s directing, how much are they paying.” Even while promoting films, he often bluntly admits that he takes on a movie simply to boost his bank account.
For example, after filming Dreamcatcher in 2003, when a reporter asked about the film’s adaptation of the novel, he bluntly stated he “hadn’t read the original book.” When pressed about the movie’s genre, he laughed and said, “What if I said it’s a ‘paycheck movie’?” Similarly, during the 2009 release of Angel Has Fallen, when media asked why he continued with the franchise after Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen, he replied: “Money. This is the third one, and the pay is higher than the first.”
Freeman’s paycheck is certainly substantial. It is estimated that his appearance fee per film is around $10 million. Meanwhile, regarding his net worth, while his fortune is not among the highest in Hollywood—where the wealthy are everywhere—it still stands at a respectable $250 million, placing him squarely in the middle. And this is even after paying out $100 million to $200 million in property division during his 2010 divorce.
In his later years, Freeman’s filmography does indeed exhibit a somewhat “take-all” tendency. While it features reasonably well-received films like Going in Style and The Good Person, it is dominated by the likes of The Comeback Trail, The Poison Rose, The Ritual Killer, 57 Seconds, My Dead Friend Zoe, and The Minute You Wake Up Dead—each of which could easily be filed under the category of “bad movies,” looking very much like products of “cashing in.”
Awards can serve as another circumstantial piece of evidence. He has been nominated for five Oscars in his lifetime, with his last nomination in 2010, after which he was never nominated again. In the past decade or so, the honors he has received have basically been lifetime achievement awards, largely built upon past achievements and the halo of seniority.
Yet, to criticize Freeman for “losing his integrity in old age” would be overly hasty and one-sided. On one hand, not all of his early and peak-era works were masterpieces; he revealed in past interviews that there were roles he regretted taking. On the other hand, he is not absolutely mercenary. If a low-budget film truly needs his help, he won’t flatly refuse: “If you have a good story to tell and come to me for help, I’m almost entirely supportive.”
Freeman is a late bloomer. Growing up in a struggling family in Tennessee, he started his career on the Broadway stage, getting his first chance on the big screen at age 34, and it took another 16 years from his first film to his first award nomination. By the time he appeared in The Shawshank Redemption, his salary was around $300,000. Having endured poverty and hardship, experienced the struggles of climbing the ladder, and understood the harshness and cruelty of the industry, such a person is bound to be a complex mix: sincere yet worldly, generous yet intensely driven by a desire for wealth.
In this sense, the older Freeman is perhaps simply living willfully, uninhibitedly answering the call of intuition and desire. The Oscar trophy he won at age 68 is already enough to prove himself; from then on, he could afford to be free.
Different Paths
In fact, many Hollywood veterans have engaged in the “will act for money” routine.
Michael Caine, now 93, was selected by Empire magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time.” He made bad movies at various stages of his career, the most famous being Jaws: The Revenge in 1987. The reason for its fame isn’t how terrible the movie is, but his classic response to outside criticism: “I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific!”
Comedian Eddie Murphy was once asked on a show why he agreed to star in a terrible film like The Adventures of Pluto Nash. He offered no excuses, simply describing a vivid scene in his characteristic teasing manner: “The door opens, four men carry in a check, and I say, ‘What? How dare you bring me this script! Oh, that much money? Well, let’s go!'”
Nicolas Cage was once one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors, but he accumulated massive tax debts due to reckless spending and eccentric investments. To pay off his debts, he spent over a decade taking on a massive volume of low-budget B-movies released directly to DVD or streaming, earning him the moniker “King of B-Movies.” However, after clearing his debts, he has seemingly experienced a career “second spring” in recent years with acclaimed works like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
Liam Neeson, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for Schindler’s List, transformed almost entirely into a “late-career action star” after turning nearly 60, starring in a slew of formulaic, mid-to-low-budget action movies. Aside from the quick cash such films offer, he once admitted after the tragic skiing accident death of his wife that he needed intensely saturated, high-intensity work to numb himself and escape the grief.
Of course, others chose a radically different path.
Take screen legend Clint Eastwood, for instance. Now 96 years old, he has steadfastly refused in his later years to reprise his career-defining “Dirty Harry” role, even though it would undoubtedly generate massive revenues. He remains sharply critical of returning for money, publicly expressing incomprehension at Sylvester Stallone’s decision to reboot Rocky after a 16-year gap—”I think he just did it for the money.” In his view, returning to a finished story just for a paycheck “cheapens the craft.”
Tim Robbins, who once co-starred with Morgan Freeman, chose a similar path. After shaping the unforgettable character of Andy in The Shawshank Redemption, he gradually moved away from the spotlight at the peak of his fame. He first transitioned behind the camera, directing Dead Man Walking (which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival) and Cradle Will Rock (which competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes). Afterward, as a director, he dedicated himself to the world of theater. He once said that he was a theater director long before entering the film industry, and every time he returns to the theater company, it feels like coming home: “I love working with a group of people to improve our theatrical skills and reach the highest peaks of art together.”
In 2015, Tim brought his directed Shakespearean play A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Beijing and Shanghai for performances. In an interview with Chinese media at the time, he stated: “If you want to make money, theater is not a good choice. I think what matters is what you feel deep in your soul; if you truly love theater from your heart, you will find happiness in it.”