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Morgan Freeman is a cinema icon, and nowhere was that clearer than on the set of his newest movie.
In Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, the Oscar winner, 88, reprises his role as Thaddeus Bradley for the third time in the heist franchise. As his cast mates and director tell PEOPLE at the movie’s world premiere in New York City on Monday, Nov. 10, Freeman was given his due deference.
“The first day we met him, we were all, like, gawking around him, ranking his best movies,” Dominic Sessa says with a laugh. “I think we were all kind of fanning out when he was around — just so cool to be able to make a movie with a living legend.”
“He’s an icon,” agrees Justice Smith. “I have a lot of reverence for him as a young Black actor. Yeah, it definitely was surreal.”
Katalin Vermes
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Freeman first played his slippery former magician in 2013’s Now You See Me, reprising the role in its 2016 sequel alongside stars Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and more. Sessa, 23, and Smith, 30, join the Ruben Fleischer-directed third installment alongside fellow newcomers Rosamund Pike and Ariana Greenblatt and a returning Isla Fisher.
“I’ve always been such a big fan of these movies,” Greenblatt, 18, tells PEOPLE. “I felt impostor syndrome because I was like, ‘I’m just a fan that they let on set, what am I doing?’ ”
It “blows my mind,” she adds, to call multiple screen veterans her costars: “I’ve wanted to work with Jesse for so long. Rosamund Pike. I mean, Morgan Freeman!”
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Calling the Lioness actor “a living legend,” Fleischer says he felt “so humbled” to work with Freeman. “I just couldn’t believe I was in a position to be directing Morgan Freeman. It was surreal at times, but obviously he doesn’t need much direction. He’s a pretty good actor!” he quips.
Freeman “knows what he’s doing,” adds Fleischer, 51. “I just felt really lucky to get to know him. He’s an American treasure.”
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is in theaters Nov. 14. In April, Variety reported that a fourth film is already in development.
