tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with oscar-winning actor morgan freeman. at age 75, the popular star shows no sign of slowing down with a number of projects this year. you can catch him in what could be the biggest the -- film of the year. he continues his role of narrator of the science channel series through the wormhole. coming up right now. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: please welcome morgan freeman back to this program. the oscar-winning actor has to notable films coming out next month. the newest installment of the batman series and the new rob reiner project, the magic of belle isle. before we get to those, here is a small sampling of his unforgettable work. >> tomorrow, we have to meet. heavenly father, we want you to let our folks know that we died facing the enemy. we want them to know that we went down standing out. amongst those that are fighting

against our repression. we want them to know that we died for freedom. we ask these lessons in jesus' name. and now i have a message for those people out there that have abandoned you and written you off. can you hear me? good. you are not inferior. your schools may have then, but you can turn that around and make liars out of those. in exactly one hour. >> sometimes it makes me sad, andy being gone. i have to remind myself that some birds are not meant to be

caged. and when they fly away, the part of you that knows that rejoices. but still, the place that you live-in is much more drab that they are gone. i guess i just missed my friend. we never could get the damn bridge to work, but this baby works just fine. so what do you think? >> does it come in black? tavis: starting july 6, you can catch the latest project, the

magic of belle isle directed by rob reiner. >> i am not really from belle isle, we only come here for the summer. i live in manhattan. at least, i used to. my mom and dad are getting divorced. >> coming to an event like this all by your own son? >> i am 9 1/2 years old. >> that is pretty old. >> my mom lets me have my own pocket knife. >> you don't have a pocket knife. >> i do so. >> look at that. that must be about the fight is a pocket knife i have ever seen.

you can tell a lot about a person's character by the condition of their pocket knife. i would say they you are fearless. >> what does your pocket knife look like? >> i don't carry one. i used to carry one, but i could not get through the airport with it. tavis: i want to get to this movie in just a second, but i was reading something. you said in this interview, if you recall, you have no intent ever of writing a memoir or an autobiography. with all the life you have lived, and i raise that because we have seen so much of your brilliant work on screen, so much story to tell, you decided you are not going to write one. >> i just don't have that

desire. i really don't. i have done it, i don't need to talk about it. tavis: i think that the reason people do this in large measure is because their families want to know so much more about the choices, the decisions, the back story. at what led to this? you lived it, and we have seen you blossom into this brilliant actor on screen. you like it that way, obviously. >> i guess. what i haven't talked about i don't intend to talk about. tavis: when you look back on your -- if you have received

every major award there is. you have seen these kinds of retrospectives of your life. what goes through your mind? >> i am a little reticent to say pride, i am very lucky. there are really good parts to play, people to play with. tavis: luck has something to do with it, but your talent and your skill level -- >> i have always remembered this. luck is led opportunity meets the declaration. i feel like that is what

happened with me. i was lucky that when the opportunity came, i was prepared. tavis: did you ever expect to be this good? >> i can't say yes to that. you don't really have these kinds of expectations. desires, yes. i wanted to be lauded and applauded, on the red carpet waving. but expect? i can say that i did. tavis: i hadn't seen you in a few months, it had been a while, i guess. i was in my home state of mississippi, got a chance to hang out at your club for a couple days.

a few others film of this documentary. it leads me to ask how your upbringing has been formed the kinds of acting choices you have made. >> i am not sure that my upbringing has, in itself, and formed my acting choices. but, i was a child of the movies. i went to the movies with every opportunity. it has informed of a lot of my choices. there are certain lesser roles. sydney poitier came along and

he wasn't funny, he was just good. that was my pattern. tavis: poitier was the first black actor that turned you on in that way, did you decide you wanted to be a dramatic actor? you have done it all at this point, but did you decide you wanted to be a dramatic actor? >> i just wanted to be an actor. better to be well rounded. doing comedy is as easy as doing everything else. you are dependent totally on the material. i don't invent funny stuff. but if the material has humor in it, it is easy for me.

be a't think i set out to dramatic actor. just an actor. >> let me ask a question i asked earlier. given how late you got started in the business, whether or not there is something, a role that you wish you had a chance to play and you know you want given year chronology -- >> there was one in particular. i have always been really hot about cowboys.

there came to my attention, years ago, he was a deputy united states marshal. that was when the united states government decided that the trees we made with the indians, opening up the oklahoma territory. we wanted that area cleared of bad guys. so we sent a federal judge. we sent him to the frontier, and he in his u.s. marshal hired a

bunch of deputies, black, white, and indian. their job was to clean out the territory and get the bad guys out. he is one of the best man hunters. he killed about 14 men. they let him bring him head and hand it over. but he was really good at his job. i really wanted to do that and play that part. >> given that you own a production company, you can produce the project. >> i have been trying to do that

for a lot of years. one of the hardest things about trying to do anything, it is getting a script. it is really hard. a lot of people have come with ideas, but they don't match what i want to do. tavis: you know a good script when you see one. >> most of the scripts i have read are a little like. enough depth. you look at a project like deadwood. serious, down in the mud and stuff.

that is what life is like and that is what i would want. much earlier movies about the west are cleaned up. there were a lot of forces. the first thing, i think was on rio. tavis: you have new ways of saying things. any western, i will look in the street to see if there is horse plunky. as i look over your coprus, -- corpus, there are certain people you have gone back to work with a few times.

they say life is about relationships. i could talk about ashley judd or clint eastwood. rob reiner, what is it about this relationship that made you want to go back again? >> he is a really good director, he is very quick. a director that knows what he is doing in knows what he wants. >> are you an impatient actor? think i amn't impatient. as long as i agree that you haven't gotten it the way you want it yet. but i am impatient with directors that don't know what they want because they want to do one more.

what for? i guarantee you that is not going to be a change. [laughter] tavis: was that in frame? moving on. >> that is the focus puller. are you happy? tavis: knows what you like -- he knows what he likes and you like that? >> clint refuses to do more than three takes. lets not dilly dally around. tavis: you said this is really the first time you have played a romantic love interest.

pseudo, semi. >> semi, yeah. i used to be asked a lot why didn't do more. i couldn't tell you, really. tavis: what attracted you to this script? >> something i have not done before. this guy was interesting enough, i got a call from robin it was not written to be played by a black person. not that it matters in any case ever, but he had not thought of it. he enjoyed working, and i like

working with him, too. tavis: what should we make of the fact that even though it was not written for an african american that you responded to the part and it works? >> i am not professionally black. [laughter] i love the way you laugh. tavis: that is a great line, i suspect it will be on twitter and facebook in 30 seconds. i am not profesionally black. >> they say, like deep impact,

what was it like to play a black president? i did not play a black president. i just played a the president. tavis: and yet, while you did that with such ease, in more than one article by the variety of critics taking streetcar starring blair underwood, takin g that production to task. there's a controversy about that, does it work when they are saying this particular line? that debate continues, so it is

not so easy to take this which -- make the switch. >> no. they did cat on a hot tin roof, and that is a harder one to swallow, to make an all black cast out of. all.'t understaned it at people -- someone is always going to come down on the other side of the fence. tavis: do you ever get tired of taking raise questions? -- race questions? >> i think they are boring. when president obama was elected, i had that moment of wow, look at where we are.

race seems to me to be less and less a subject worth discussing. tavis: it is one thing to be tired of being asked about it and another thing to say it is less and less worthy of discussion. ." >> yeah, if you look at the situation in virginia where this kid was shot by vigilante without much to do by police, the questions start up again. this a little more carefully, there is something wrong. there these things are, but we

will always be able to ask a question like that. tavis: over the last couple years, asked about race and the tea party, you got yourself in a bit of hot water here and there. >> hot water with two? -- who? >> the people that don't agree with what you said. >> i don't care. tavis: that is what i thought would be the response. some professional blacks and whites, particularly in this business, want to hold their tongue in this business for fear it might hurt their box office. managers and agents say, stay out of it. >> i don't have anybody telling me what to say. i have people suggest that maybe

i shouldn't, but it's up to me. i think we did a good thing electing barack obama. i read his books, he is absolutely and totally qualified for the job. he has proven himself to not only be qualified, but very good at it. the things that he has been able to accomplish in the face of so much push back are amazing. and i think, this is morgan freeman's personal thought. i think we will be in a lot of trouble if we don't reelect him. people on the other side of the fence scare me. tavis: on that note, we will stop the conversation for

tonight. we are talking about both of his projects. it makes it difficult to squeeze a conversation to 30 minutes, but we will continue with this tomorrow night. until then, keep the faith. >> what is the moment that captures your heart like? >> like walking into a room. >> how do i do that? >> it is sunny outside. a light rainfall. you know how it feels when a warm breeze comes in. that is how you walk into our room. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with oscar winner morgan freeman on

his to summer movie projects, and next time. we'll see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be