There’s a deep mutual respect and admiration that runs through the friendship and creative partnership of Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood. Both figures have established themselves as true icons of American cinema, though Eastwood’s history in the film industry goes further back.

With a profound understanding of one another’s craft, Eastwood and Freeman have collaborated on a handful of occasions. In fact, in a number of Eastwood’s later movies as a director, he’s cast Freeman, beginning with 1992’s revisionist western Unforgiven, which is certainly one of his best.

Twelve years later, Freeman again turned up in Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, proving their professional connection. By the time Freeman gave his third performance for Eastwood, he actually had to convince the director to take on the project. Freeman explained this incident whilst also giving praise to Eastwood’s prowess behind the camera.

“I think Clint is an actor’s director,” Freeman once told RTE. “He doesn’t direct actors. He directs movies. He hires actors, and it’s your job. And I love that about him that you establish your own character; you play it and do what the scene calls for. [He’ll] have the scene set up.”

“Cameras will be where we want them to be,” Freeman added. “Lights will be where we want them to be. And go for it. “He never says action, and he never says cut. He’s his own person on a movie set. Wonderful.” Perhaps this sense of acting freedom on Eastwood’s sets comes from his own history as an actor and his understanding of their needs.

Eastwood is also largely known for directing projects that he himself stars in, but there’s one film from his catalogue that Freeman actually played a large hand in getting the director to take on. “I begged him to direct Invictus,” Freeman noted. “It’s one of the few movies he directed that he wasn’t in.”

Eastwood’s 2009 biographical sports film Invictus sees Freeman play Nelson Mandela and focus on how he used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to bring together the nation of South Africa following years of racial tension and apartheid. Matt Damon plays Francois Pienaar, the Springboks’ captain, who tries to lead his team to victory.

Freeman and Eastwood had already worked twice together before Invictus – Unforgiven in 1992 and Million Dollar Baby in 2004 – but it was perhaps the biographical sports drama for which Freeman earned the most acclaim, including a ‘Best Actor’ nomination at the Academy Awards.

Check out the trailer for Invictus below.

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