Morgan Freeman is set to star in Colin Powell biopic.
The 80-year-old movie legend has landed the roll as the former American Secretary of State in an upcoming movie titled ‘Powell’, Variety Online has reported.
The forthcoming movie will follow Powell’s career and will focus on his memorable speech presented to the United Nations in 2003, which saw him plea for the removal of Saddam Hussein after information had leaked that the Iraqi dictator – who died in 2006 – was creating nuclear weapons.
The movie will also explore Powell’s 65th tenure in the position, where he served under former US President George W. Bush for four years from 2001 to 2005.
‘The Shawshank Redemption’ star will work with director Reginald Hudlin who is attached to create the movie, alongside Ashok Amritraj’s company Hyde Park Entertainment, as well as Lori McCreary from Freeman’s own production company Revelations Entertainment.
Hudlin will work with a script penned by Ed Whitworth, which featured on the 2011 Black List.
Hyde Park Entertainment’s Priya Amritraj and Addison Mehr will executive produce the movie alongside Revelation entertainment’s Kelly Mendelsohn.
And Freeman is set for a busy year ahead as he will not only be working on ‘Powell’, but he is also set to appear in Disney’s ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’.
Meanwhile Freeman, who made his movie debut in ‘Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow?’ in 1971, has admitted though he doesn’t want to quit the entertainment industry becoming an actor is a "big risk".
Speaking previously about his career, he said: "Becoming an actor is a big risk. I don’t get what your reasons for doing it; you’re going to have to step off the cliff. And timing is everything – where you are and when. There were times I feared I’d be an old man and never have got to do what I wanted. I just couldn’t get arrested when I was a younger man, and now I’ve reached retirement age, it seems Hollywood won’t let me retire.
"Of course, I can afford to retire but now I do it for the fun. As I started to move as an actor, at some point I got to a place where I knew that becoming an actor was a mistake, because you can’t ever disappear."
Morgan Freeman to star in ‘Powell’
