At this point, the A+ casting for a Now You See Me movie is an old trick. I mean, in the first movie, both Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine showed up alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson and Mark Ruffalo. However, those old tricks still work wonders, as Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’s cast proves, as it mixes the aforementioned icons with rising stars. So, I asked some of these rising stars what it was like to meet an actor like Morgan Freeman, and they reacted the same way I would have.
In Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, Ariana Greenblatt, Justice Smith and Dominic Sessa joined the cast as the newest magicians. All three of them are young actors with impressive careers; however, I still wondered what it was like for them to meet Morgan Freeman and see him play a character like Thaddeus Bradley. When I told the three actors that I applauded when the Oscar winner appeared on screen for the first time, Greenblatt said their reaction to meeting him in real life was similar. She explained:
I think just like that, I feel like everyone was so excited. It was the most behaved the set has been, since the beginning, and obviously to the end. I feel like whenever he was in our presence, we were obviously on our best behavior. Everyone was very prepared and excited, and I think we kind of were just wanting to respect his space and time, and we also were definitely like asking him so many questions as you would.
Just take a look at the list of Morgan Freeman’s best movies, and you’ll know that this kind of decorum feels like the natural way to go about meeting him. He’s a literal living legend, he has one of the most iconic voices ever, and his astounding career spans over five decades.
So, best behavior and applause feel necessary if the Shawshank Redemption actor is in the same room as you. To that point, Greenblatt, who plays June in the movie, and Dominic Sessa, who plays Bosco, then went back and forth about people getting emotional when Freeman came to film his scenes for the 2025 movie schedule release. They said:
- Dominic Sessa: I think I cried, like, three times.
- Ariana Greenblatt: No, honestly.
- Dominic Sessa: No, that was Ruben [Fleischer].
- Ariana Greenblatt: Ruben was a crier, especially the last day of him on set, everyone got together and took a picture. And Ruben was quite emotional.
Well, that’s adorable that Ruben Fleischer, the director of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, got emotional when Freeman was on set. And how could you not? While this cast is quite literally full of A-list actors, you can’t get much more legendary than Morgan Freeman.
So, if I were in these young performers’ shoes, I think I would have reacted the same way if I met the Se7en star. Tears would 100% be involved, and I would be beside myself as I stared star-struck at this actor (who hilariously has admitted he gets star-struck too, even though that’s hard to believe). Then, once I was able to do my job again, I would certainly be doing the best work possible.
That’s exactly what this cast did too. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is a fun follow-up to its predecessors that mixes the old cast with a new one in a fun way. So, on November 14, make sure you head to the theater to see Morgan Freeman, Ariana Greenblatt, Dominic Sessa and so many more in action as they work to pull off another magical heist.
