Freeman portrays Mandela in ‘Invictus’

Movie: "Invictus"

When: Opening Friday at local theaters

Cast: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon

Director: Clint Eastwood

The story: After the fall of apartheid in South Africa, President Nelson Mandela tries to unite his divided country -- by joining forces with the captain of the nation's rugby team, which makes a world championship run.

The buzz: Clint Eastwood usually calls his own shots, but Nelson Mandela himself made the casting call on Morgan Freeman, saying Freeman was his choice to portray him. (No doubt it was fine with Clint; Freeman previously teamed with Eastwood in 1992's Oscar-winning "Unforgiven" and won an Oscar himself in another Eastwood-directed Academy Award-winner, 2004's "Million Dollar Baby.") This drama is based on John Carlin's book "Playing The Enemy: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Changed a Nation," but the title (Latin for "invincible") comes from an 1875 poem by Britain's William Ernest Henley, part of which Mandela recites in the movie.