Freeman: It's Easy Being Mandela

When you’ve had the career Morgan Freeman’s had, “there aren’t many challenges in making movies,” the venerable actor tells Vogue. But he found one: Freeman’s taking on the role of Nelson Mandela in a big-budget biopic. “You've got to do this without embarrassing yourself, your audience, and especially Madiba,” he says. “There are pitfalls. But I am going to be working with Clint.”

That, of course, would be buddy and frequent collaborator Clint Eastwood, who’s directing the film at Freeman’s behest. “His stature in the acting world is like Mandela’s in his world,” said Eastwood of Freeman, and his confidence proves well-founded. In a later phone conversation from Johannesburg, the actor said things are going great. “The thing that’s surprised me,” he says, “is how easy it’s been to adapt to being Mandela.” (More Morgan Freeman stories.)