Freeman 'Unleashed'

The last time we saw Morgan Freeman on the big screen, he won an Academy Award for his amazing performance in 2004's Best Picture "Million Dollar Baby." Now Freeman is back on the big screen in a very different film "Unleashed."

The one on the leash is Danny played by martial arts superstar Jet Li whose character Freeman describes as "subhuman" to The Eary Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

Danny's "uncle" (Bob Hoskins – "The Long Good Friday") is a mobster who has kept him as an animal. "Trained as a pit bull, killer fighter," Freeman explains, "No gentle or loving or caring human contact since his toddlership."

That is until Freeman's character Sam, a blind piano tuner, encounters him in an accidental way and ends up nurturing him.

It was Freeman's idea to make play his role blind. Freeman explains, "Well, there's got to be a way to soften this to make it acceptable that he's really this gentle and this good and this sensitive, really perceptive. So it just occurred to me he ought to be blind. When I thought about it, it fit; and I called Luc [writer and producer Luc Besson] and said, can I play him blind? And it took him two or three weeks to decide, but he did."

Next for Freeman is "Batman Begins," which he says is "different. The costume is different. The batmobile is different. You'll know a lot more about who bat person is."
And he has a lot more movies in the can. No rest for Freeman after winning the Academy Award? "I did," he tells Smith, "I ran away and went to the boat. And I was gone for almost two months."

As for getting the coveted golden statute, he says, "I fall back on Robin Williams' explanation for it. It's all a blur. You look at the photographs, and there are certain things you remember. There's this moment when it's a combination of panic and relief and all of that. They called my name. What do i do?"

About Morgan Freeman

• Born in Memphis, Tenn., on June 1, 1937
• On stage, he showed his versatility as a song-and-dance man playing Rudolph in the Pearl Bailey version of "Hello, Dolly!" and in the title role of "Purlie!" and as a Shakespearean performer in "Coriolanus," for which he won an OBIE Award. Later, he would receive another OBIE for his series of productions on and off Broadway of "Driving Miss Daisy."
• From 1971 through 1976, he got a wider audience working as Easy Reader on the PBS children's show, "The Electric Company."
• Also in 1971, he made his feature debut in "Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?" Nine years later, he was singled out by critic Pauline Kael for his work in the tough prison drama, "Brubaker."
• In 1987, he received his first Oscar nomination and considerable critical acclaim for his supporting role as the volatile pimp Fast Black in "Street Smart."
• In 1989, he reprised his off-Broadway role as a Southern chauffeur in "Driving Miss Daisy" and received a second Academy Award nomination. The same year, he was recognized for his performance in "Glory."
• In 1991 and 1992, he was cast in roles not initially created as a black character. He was Kevin Costner's sidekick in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and a hard-boiled, no-nonsense foil to recidivist gunslinger Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven."
• In 1993, Freeman made his feature directorial debut with the story of a black South African policeman and his son, divided by apartheid in "Bopha!"
• In 1994, Freeman received his third Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Red, a prison lifer and "fixer" (a person who can acquire anything) in the moving prison drama "The Shawshank Redemption." And the following year, he received praise for his work as a cop tracking a serial killer with novice partner Brad Pitt in "Seven."
• In 1996, he appeared as the mysterious Hibble (a character not in the original novel) in the screen adaptation of "Moll Flanders" and as a enigmatic benefactor of a university's research project in "Chain Reaction."
• In 1997, Freeman portrayed police detective and psychologist Alex Cross in "Kiss the Girls." And he was an abolitionist in Steven Spielberg's "Amistad." The following year, he was cast as the U.S. president coping with an impending meteor crash in Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact."
• In 1999,Freeman added the role of producer to his resume with the based-on-fact TV drama "Mutiny" on NBC.
• In 2000, he and Gene Hackman served double duty as co-producers and co-stars in the cat-and-mouse drama "Under Suspicion." Also in 2000, Freeman portrayed the off-beat role of a hit man who obsesses over the woman he has targeted to kill in "Nurse Betty."
• In 2001, he reprised the role of Alex Cross in the prequel "Along Came a Spider," opposite Monica Potter.
• In 2002, he re-teamed with "Kiss the Girls" co-star Ashley Judd in "High Crimes" and was cast as the CIA director in "The Sum of All Fears."
• In 2003, Freeman offered an over-the-top turn as an obsessed alien-fighting military officer in the supernatural thriller "Dreamcatcher," based on the novel by Stephen King; and was a genial God in the comedy "Bruce Almighty," starring Jim Carrey
• In 2004, Freeman worked with Jennifer Lopez and Robert Redford in "An Unfinished Life." He also co-starred with Owen Wilson in "The Big Bounce" as a Hawaiian lawman.

  He appeared in the critically acclaimed "Million Dollar Baby," directed by old friend Clint Eastwood. As Scraps, an aged boxer full of frustration and regret, and blind in one eye, Freeman gave a fine performance that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

• In 2005, he signed on to play Bruce Wayne's right-hand man Lucius Fox in "Batman Begins," a prequel to the popular film franchise focusing on the superhero's shadowy origins.

  Among other upcoming films that Freeman stars in are Lasse Hallström's "An Unfinished Life;" David J. Burke's "Edison;" Bruce Beresford's "The Contract;" and Paul McGuigan's "Lucky Number Slevin."