Morgan Freeman may be known for his commanding voice, but that voice doesn’t always have such a serious tenor, as was the case during his chat with Metro about his newest movie, “Dolphin Tale.”
Freeman was upbeat, funny and playful during our conversation about his latest work, a family-friendly film about a boy and his bond with an injured dolphin.
“Dolphin Tale,” tells the story of Sawyer Nelson and his friendship with Winter, a dolphin who loses her tail when she gets caught in a crab trap. Freeman plays Dr. Cameron McCarthy, a Veterans Hospital physician who is enlisted to create a prosthetic tail to rehabilitate Winter.
After so many dramatic roles — Red in “The Shawshank Redemption,” Eddie in “Million Dollar Baby,” to just scratch the surface —what drew Freeman to a children’s film?
“Well, it’s not a kids’ movie — it’s a dolphin movie,” he says, adding that he’s always been impressed by reports of the mammals’ intelligence. “I am an appreciator of animals.”
Freeman and the real-life Winter aren’t the only stars of the film: Freeman shares the screen with Harry Connick, Jr., and he says he wasn’t in any position to start offering acting tips to the singer-actor.
“That’s not my place,” he says. “These singers, they’re performers, so they know what they’re doing.”
With a voice as iconic as his (although he’s coy when we mention this) and chops that have led him to play everyone from Nelson Mandela to the president to God, is there any role he’d love to take on that he hasn’t yet?
“Sure, a bunch,” he says. “Those parts just haven’t been written yet, so I don’t know what they are!”
And he’s got a list of actors he’s still hoping to work with — among them, George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio, he told us.
“Whoever is on your A-list is on mine, too,” he says.
Follow Meredith Engel on Twitter @MeredithatMetro.
