If Morgan Freeman has earned any kind of reputation of his long successful career in Hollywood, it's for that of his smooth, velvety voice. If you need a guy to do add some gravitas to your penguin documentary, then you shell out the extra bucks for Morgan Freeman. Before he became the go-to narration guy, Freeman mastered his epic voice in Shawshank Redemption. Freeman delivered one memorable voiceover after the other in that movie, and the actor slid into the role once more for an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. Check it out.
The Graham Norton Show is the best producer of hilarious celebrity clips on the internet, and this week they've provided another winner. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine were on the couch for the release of Going in Style, and asides from having iconic voices, both men have had some memorable roles. Freeman has provided some great voiceovers in his time but it all started in Shawshank Redemption. Freeman played Red, a prisoner serving a life sentence who provided the narration for the film, pondering on just about everything he saw. Norton asked Freeman if he'd like to do a narration for him, and with no choice, Freeman agreed. With a little Norton-spin, Freeman delivered a narration mirroring the introduction of Shawshank Redemption in which he first laid eyes on Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins)
"I must admit I didn't think much of Graham Norton first time I laid eyes on him," Freeman began. "Looked like a stiff breeze could blow him over. I could see why some people took him for annoying."
Morgan Freeman went on to comment on Graham Norton's drinking habits, and how he wishes Michael Caine would just stop talking so much (less epic voice competition). Freeman concluded his narration with this thought.
I hope people stop asking me to do stupid voice-overs like this. I hope.
Just beautiful. Morgan Freeman delivers a lot of memorable lines throughout all of Shawshank Redemption. Take his climactic parole scene at the end of the movie, for example, which I've provided here below.
Oh, whoops. That was Saturday Night Live's parody of that scene with Kenan Thompson as a prisoner who likes to eat men whole. Still enjoyable!
You can currently see Morgan Freeman in Going in Style. Directed by Zack Braff, the film isn't doing so hot in the reviews, but you can see it for yourselves while it's currently in theaters now.
