Morgan Freeman knew he was in trouble the moment the script read-through ended. He had already signed the deal and committed to the role and was set to play a stern military figure in Dreamcatcher, a sci-fi mess based on Stephen King’s book. The catch was that he was not doing it for the love of the story or the thrill of the character, but for the money, plain and simple.
The Dreamcatcher Script Was a Warning Sign
The film was already circling the drain before the cameras started rolling. Whatever Freeman might have thought of the script beforehand, the real trouble set in during the cast read-through. According to Far Out Magazine, during the first full read-through with the rest of the star-studded cast, including the likes of Thomas Jane, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, and more, the problems became evident. The session dragged and the story kept getting more tangled and by the end of it, Freeman was done. He closed his script and summed up what everyone else was thinking, even if no one wanted to say it out loud.
I love how they gave Morgan Freeman a flattop in Dreamcatcher. pic.twitter.com/MNmuv4JcA4
— @DrunkInPittsburgh (@1337Drunk) July 4, 2025
Stephen King Adaptation Gone Completely Wrong
The first full read was a red flag and for someone with experience adapting King’s work, especially something as respected as The Shawshank Redemption , it must have felt like stepping into a different universe and not in a good way.
The story itself had the ingredients for something at least passable like telepathic childhood friends, alien threats, military intervention and on paper it almost looked like it could work but when it came to execution, it unraveled fast. Apparently, the plot made less and less sense as it moved forward.
Even Morgan Freeman’s Eyebrows Stole the Show
Then there were Freeman’s eyebrows, which were thick, cartoonish, and almost sentient. They have ended up being the most memorable part of the film. People who watched Dreamcatcher tend to forget most of the plot but those eyebrows haunt them. It is as if even they wanted to leave the movie halfway through and do something else.
Freeman still had to show up on set, deep in the freezing Canadian wilderness, shooting scene after scene while knowing full well the film was broken beyond repair and everyone around him probably felt the same.
Some actors find themselves in bad movies but Freeman walked straight into this one. He saw the warning signs early and still had to stick it out because there was no escaping it.
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