SAMANTHA BLONS & MELISSA GIAIMO
Assistant A&E Editor & Assistant Perspectives Editor
Morgan Freeman, Oscar-winning actor, visited Pepperdine’s screenwriting class on Monday night, sharing a lifetime of film experience and advice during a student question-and-answer session.
Adjunct screenwriting professor Tom Shadyac announced to the class earlier in the week that he would be hosting a guest speaker, but did not reveal Freeman’s identity until that evening. The 30 students in the course rapidly spread the news about their mystery Hollywood guest to their friends, attracting more than 80 people the class Monday.
Shadyac, longtime Hollywood director, writer and producer, directed Freeman in the 2003 film “Bruce Almighty” and the upcoming sequel, “Evan Almighty.” The two friends hold each other in eminent regard.
“[Freeman] makes my work better,” Shadyac said.
Freeman, likewise, said Shadyac is “to be venerated.”
Freeman spoke about the importance of collaboration in filmmaking, particularly between writers, directors and actors. Script writers, he said, need to “write it and let it go,” allowing the actors to interpret the scripts and develop their characters. Freeman also encourages actors to share their artistic opinions with directors, a habit he is well known for in Hollywood.
Freeman and Shadyac agree there is a common thread throughout most of Freeman’s films. When he chooses his roles, Freeman said he needs to be “engaged” with the character.
“What an actor really needs is to be able to empathize,” Freeman said.
Freeman also offered advice to the aspiring filmmakers and actors in the audience.
“Don’t give up,” he said. “Getting into the business and getting started is the hardest thing you’re going to do.”
Freeman said “providence” and his friends’ support motivated him to persevere.
Theater student sophomore David Sheftell said Freeman’s speech gave him “hope to keep going” as an actor. “[He is] definitely someone I look up to.”
While awaiting Freeman’s arrival, the audience watched his 1994 Oscar-nominated film “The Shawshank Redemption.” Freeman called the film “the perfect script” during his question-and-answer session with the students.
He said he considers his role as a pimp in the 1987 film “Street Smart” the best and most unique of his career, joking with the students that he likes to play the ladies’ man. He also picked “Moulin Rouge” as his top film and Clint Eastwood as his favorite director with whom to work.
Freeman said his career is about both working hard during a project, then letting go of it once it has been completed.
“I give it everything I got – and then I walk away,” Freeman said.
Shadyac opened and closed the seminar by remembering the mass shooting at Virginia Tech earlier that day.
He thanked Freeman for his visit, and called his presence a beacon of hope, likening it to his role in the “The Shawshank Redemption.”
04-19-2007