>A SURVIVOR OF SUCCESS

HE HAS THREE OSCAR NODS (FOR 1987'S Street Smart, '89's Driving Miss Daisy and '94's The Shawshank Redemption) and a hit fall film (Seven, with Brad Pitt). So why isn't Morgan Freeman as miserable as many of his Hollywood peers? For one thing, Freeman, 58, and his wife of 11 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, 54, live on a 44-acre farm in his native Mississippi. (The actor has four children from a previous marriage.) Then there's his approach to acting: "I don't have to be angry to be angry [onscreen]. I'm making lots of money, doing what I want. How can I be in a bad mood?"

What was it like to make Seven?

The set was dark, uncomfortable and unhealthy. The director, David Fincher, and others developed a chronic cough because of the water and mineral oil that was blown into the air to create the murky atmosphere.

Could anything lighten the mood?

We rode Brad about being named [by PEOPLE] as the sexiest man in the universe. The cast gave him a director's chair that said that. I ranted, "What am I, chopped liver? How dare they insult me by putting this here!" We [finally] let Brad in on the joke.

What about the romance between Pitt and costar Gwyneth Paltrow?

The chemistry between them was real. I have always been floored by [her mother] Blythe Danner. And here she comes. She has the gift.

Is there a message in this movie?

I don't want the audience to get a message. I just want them to get their money's worth.