If only Morgan Freeman and Samuel L. Jackson would take it easy every now and then.
Yes, they’re terrific actors who always keep us riveted even if their films often don’t. But it’s OK for
Freeman and Jackson to occasionally turn down a big payday to maintain their dignity.
Remember how every film in 2004 seemingly starred Ben Stiller or Jude Law? This year, Freeman
and Jackson have maintained a ubiquitous presence in movie theaters.
Freeman won an Oscar for 2004’s Million Dollar Baby, which made most of its $100.4 million this year. He Unleashed Jet Li’s nice side and helped resurrect the Caped Crusader with
Batman Begins. And he narrated March of the Penguins and War of the Worlds.
Jackson scored with Coach Carter and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. But he also crashed and burned with XXX: State of the Union and In My Country.
So it’s no surprise that Freeman and Jackson would be here to usher in the fall film season.
Unfortunately, neither will strike gold.
Hopes were clearly once high for Freeman’s An Unfinished Life, from Chocolat director
Lasse Hallström.
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Miramax originally considered launching this drama–starring Jennifer Lopez as a widow forced to
live with Robert Redford, her estranged father-in-law–in late 2003 as a potential Oscar contender.
But once “Bennifer” spun out control, and Miramax founders the Weinstein brothers began fighting
with Disney over the Mouse House subsidiary, An Unfinished Life stayed on the shelf.
An Unfinished Life is among several expensive Miramax releases–including The Great Raid and The Brothers Grimm–that’s being unceremoniously dumped in the wake of the Weinsteins’ departure from Miramax. An Unfinished Life probably deserves better given its pedigree and Lopez’s return to favor with Monster-in-Law.
The Man marks one of Jackson’s rare forays into comedy. But The Man–featuring
Federal agent Jackson paired with nebbish salesman Eugene Levy as part of an undercover sting–doesn’t sound any better than National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1. Jackson didn’t mine
many laughs from larcenous behavior with the Lethal Weapon spoof or Amos and Andrew. If The Man fires blanks, don’t expect it to top Loaded Weapon’s $27.9 million.
Not that The Man represents Jackson’s last hurrah for 2005. Freedomland, with
Jackson as a cop searching for a missing child, will open Dec. 23 in time for an Oscar run.
Freeman’s done for 2005, unless the thriller Edison is rushed into theaters after its Sept. 17
debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
So why do Freeman and Jackson seem unwilling to rest up?
Maybe they’re trying to make up for lost time.
Freeman, 68, and Jackson, 57, enjoyed their big breaks late in their careers. Ironically, they came to
prominence with explosive performances as men on the wrong side of the law. Freeman, then 50,
portrayed a vicious pimp in Street Smart. Jackson, at 43, stole Jungle Fever from
Wesley Snipes as his devious, drug-addled brother.
Freeman’s Street Smart Oscar nomination led to equally weighty roles in Clean and Sober and
Lean on Me. But 1989 proved to be Freeman’s year, with Driving Miss Daisy and
Glory duking it out for Oscar gold. Then came Unforgiven, Seven and The
Shawshank Redemption.
