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Seven Questions With Morgan J. Freeman Of "Hurricane"

by indieWIRE (February 4, 1997)
Seven Questions With Morgan J. Freeman Of "Hurricane"

by Cheri Barner

A surprise hit of the '97 Sundance Film Festival was a first time film, "Hurricane", by a twenty seven year old director/screenwriter named Morgan J. Freeman. What is immediately noticeable in Freeman's work is the sure hand with the young director steers both the script's plot and his small band of young actors through the film.

The film is the story of a group of clubhouse kids, lead by Marcus (Brendan Sexton, III), who commit petty thefts while quietly suffering through life's hardships. A disturbing picture of the impenetrable hardness of the adult world crushing children's lives, "Hurricane's" able leadership was recognized at Sundance by the DGA with it's Director's Award. The film also garnered the Festival's Audience Award as well as the Cinematography Award for Enrique Chediak's work.

I interviewed Freeman at the Claimjumper Bar in Park City. Freeman enters wearing jeans, a parka, and a buzz cut. He looks so young, I wonder if we will be allowed in. He is accompanied by his lead actor Brendan Sexton, III. Sexton is a small, tightly packed bundle of energy, much like a hurricane himself.

indieWIRE: This is a very unique film about kids since it is told in a more referential way...

Morgan Freeman: It's very structured story. It's not a slice of life about Manhattan street kids. It's a drama, and I think a devastating drama that effects a group, a club, of good-intentioned, thriving, healthy kids in our society. And this is an attempt to raise the question of, "Is it society?" "What can lead these kids astray, or what can make their world a dangerous place?"

iW: How do you think Hurricane compares with a film like "Kids?"

Freeman: I think "Kids" was more an expose of somebody's idea of what a certain group of New York street kids are like. I think that yes, you can go into any part of any where in the world and find the bad kids and you can make a movie about that. I don't think that represents the entire group. Brendan doesn't sit home doing nine whip-its, slapping his dick. I stand behind that movie, as a movie that went into that sub-culture, heightened it and sensationalized it for a dramatic effect. You know, "lets take this up to the biggest level ever." And that's a good way to get a movie out there, to really go there.

iW: And how do you go there with a film like "Hurricane?"

Freeman: It's hard. You try to explain it as what? An inner city love story? Is it kids stuck in the asphalt jungle? It's got guns? They've got a clubhouse, they hang out, they steal. It's like you want it to be an anti-hero character who's life completely falls apart, and he tries to rebuild it but in a world that won't let him.

iW: How did you approach writing the script?

Freeman: I'm really a big fan of movie structure, planting seeds, payoff. Creating a tight knit structure that allows you to have rules to go by when you film. Or laws you create for yourself by having a structure.

I wrote a lot. The script should be much longer, you need to lose scenes. It's not all going to work out. You want a hundred and twenty pages in your script, I think, because you don't know what's going to work, you don't know who's going to shine, you don't know what sub-plot is going to come out and be amazing.

iW: What films had an effect on your filmmaking?

Freeman: "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" had an amazing influence on my storytelling. You know where you're going and you're confident that just when one (plot point) is running out there is going to be another to pick it up.

Also, obviously, "400 Blows." "Hurricane" is very referential to it. Even the title is similar. I wanted a (continual) battering, like the image of a small boy beaten down by 400 blows.

iW: Brendan gives an outstanding performance for someone so young, how did you pick him for the role?

Freeman: I had seen him In "Welcome To The Dollhouse" and I used him in several of my earlier short films. I knew I wanted to use him when I did my feature. What was important that, we agreed on the character. So I (put) complete trust in what I think Brendan could do and how he saw Marcus. And I embraced what he saw in the character.

I notice throughout the interview, Morgan glancing a paternal watchful eye over the sixteen year old, Brendan. Even his body language is that of a parent, which makes me ask:

iW: Were you a paternal director on the set?

Freeman: No, he (nodding towards Brendan) drives me crazy. One day, I'm so nervous were doing this big day at the school with all the kids, I have all these extras and we have cops with a long dolly and we're running out of time and it's really hot in the car, we don't have the engine running but we have the window down on Brendan's side of the car and this punk here (Brendan) is refusing to do the scene because (he says) "in real life if the cop came with the window down, he'd just reach out and open the door."

As Morgan physically depicts the argument that ensues with fervor, Brendan laughs hysterically. Despite what they say there is obviously a great deal of affection between them.

posted on February 4, 1997
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