Morgan Freeman talks rapping Missy Elliott’s ‘Get Your Freak On’ in new commercial
The Academy Award winning actor says 'rapping doesn't come naturally to me'
The Academy Award winning actor says 'rapping doesn't come naturally to me'
Morgan Freeman is in a Super Bowl commercial for the first time, and he’s lip-syncing to Missy Elliott‘s “Get Your Freak On” while promoting Mountain Dew Ice and Doritos Blaze.
The actor famous for his voice doesn’t use it at all during the rapping, and it was a new experience for him, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Even though he admits he wasn’t much of a rap fan, it was surprisingly easy for him to catch on to Missy’s lyrics.
“It was a well thought out exercise. It wasn’t hard to do or to catch on to. I was surprised how quickly I could learn the words,” Morgan said. “Rapping doesn’t come naturally to me, but it was a painless experience. A terrific director, too. I was encouraged by them that with each take it looked great.”
He didn’t listen to much of Missy’s music to prepare, though.
“No, I’m too old to have adopted rap as a genre [for me]. I’m still with the ’70s and ’80s. I know rap started way back then, but I was not on that then,” he admitted.
–Morgan Freeman honored with Lifetime Achievement Award at SAG–
It’s an adventure
As for why Freeman decided to do the commercial, he admitted that he was intrigued by the idea. “It’s one of those things that an adventurous actor is not going to turn down,” he said.
He did admit, though, that his decision to do commercials in the past was “primarily a financial thing.”
“Back in the day, when it was about paying the rent and putting food on the table, I went through a period of doing commercials,” he said. “You have to be careful, though, it’s possible to get stuck in commercials and find it hard to get work outside of that. I didn’t want to wind up as a commercial actor.”
As for whether he likes the products he was advertising, he admitted, “I explained to them that I’m not a big soda drinker anyway. But if you go to a party and they have dip and chips, you’re going to gorge on them. Doritos is one of the favorites there.”
Check out the epic Super Bowl TV spot below!
