Morgan Freeman to star as Nelson Mandela

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Morgan Freeman, next seen picking up a paycheck for playing God in Evan Almighty, will according to Variety star as former South African President Nelson Mandela in an upcoming Indie film. The movie which is being described as a drama is based on John Carlin's not yet released book The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and The Game that Changed the World.

The film is set after the fall of apartheid, when South Africa was host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela was in his first term as South African president, and he used the event as a way to end decades of mistrust and hatred between blacks and whites.

South African scribe Anthony Peckham of Don't Say a Word fame has wrote the script with a director not yet attached. Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela is just about as perfect a casting as you could possibly make. This could really be the performance of a lifetime for an actor who's more well known for starring in many films rather than having that one iconic role. You know, like Laurence Fishburne will be always be Morpehus from The Matrix, but if I asked you what your favourite Freeman performance was you might all give me a different answer! My favourite would be The Shawshank Redemption, closely followed by Se7en - although I prefer the latter movie to the former.