Morgan Freeman to play Nelson Mandela in new movie

LOS ANGELES - Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman and his film production company on Friday unveiled plans to make a movie starring Freeman as former South African president and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela.

The film, to be called "The Human Factor," will be based on an upcoming book "The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Changed the World" by journalist and author John Carlin.

"I have known Nelson Mandela personally for quite some time, and am continually in awe of his enormous presence in the world. The opportunity to portray him in this film is a great honor," Freeman said in a statement.

Revelations Entertainment, the company run by Freeman and business partner Lori McCreary, is expected to begin production in early 2008. A theater release date has not yet been set for the independently made movie.

"The Human Factor" will look at Mandela's public and private life in the first year of his presidency, when South Africa was just emerging from years of apartheid.

Mandela, now 88, was a long-time anti-apartheid activist who was jailed by the former white-ruled government of South Africa early in his life and served 27 years before being released in 1990.

Mandela went on to lead the country when apartheid ended, and his policy of reconciliation helped earn him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Freeman earned an Oscar as best supporting actor for his 2004 role in Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby."