Casting Call: Morgan Freeman Channels Nelson Mandela

Morgan Freeman lends the “Human” touch to inspirational role. Alicia Keys reels in “Catfish.” And, Tyler Perry is back at it again! It’s all in today’s Access Hollywood Casting Call?

Morgan Freeman will play former South African President Nelson Mandela in “The Human Factor,” according to Variety.

Freeman, will also co-produce the drama, based on the upcoming John Carlin book “The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed the World.”

The film is set after the fall of apartheid, when

South Africa was host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela was in his first term as South African president, and he used the event as a way to end decades of mistrust and hatred between whites and blacks.

In preparing for the project, Freeman traveled to

South Africa last year to discuss the project with Mandela.

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

Fans can catch Freeman at the box office this weekend as he reprises his role as God, alongside Steve Carell in “Evan Almighty.”

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Alicia Keys has cast out her line and reeled in “Catfish,” reports Variety.

Keys’ Big Pita, Little Pita scored the script of the drama, based on the true story of a strong-willed black woman who spearheads the biggest strike in U.S. history after standing up to a powerful corporation whose greed devastates her small Mississippi hometown.

No word yet whether Keys would star in the film.

“Catfish” was unveiled at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

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Angela Bassett will share the screen with Tyler Perry in “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns,” per the Hollywood Reporter.

Bassett will play Brenda, a single mother living in inner-city Chicago who takes her family to

Georgia for her father’s funeral. Upon her arrival, she meets the Browns – her father’s fun-loving but crass Southern clan.

“Browns” is slated for an early 2008 release. Meanwhile, Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?” is scheduled to hit theaters November 16.

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David Strathairn has signed on to star in the horror remake “A Tale of Two Sisters,” per the Hollywood Reporter.

Based on the Kim Jee-Woon’s 2003 Korean horror film of the same name, the story revolves around two sisters who return home to their father (Strathairn) after spending time in a mental institution.

“Sisters” also stars Elizabeth Banks as the girls’ obsessive and unbalanced stepmother.

Filming will begin shooting in July in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Strathairn, who stars in the upcoming films “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” received the Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role alongside George Clooney in 2005’s “Good Night, and Good Luck.”