Freeman prepared to play Mandela for years

Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman, who will soon be seen playing former South African leader Nelson Mandela on the big screen, insists that he has been preparing for this role for years.

Freeman, who first met Mandela in the early 1990s, said: "He told me he wanted me to play him in a movie someday. For that I asked him to give me personal access so that I could understand his body language. He readily agreed," starpulse.com quoted Freeman as saying.

"So anytime we were anywhere in proximity after that we would meet. I have always been preparing for this role even before I stepped in front of the camera as him," he said.

Freeman would be donning this role in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" that is based on Mandela's life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa.