MORGAN FREEMAN TO PLAY NELSON MANDELA: Clint Eastwood eyes director's chair in post-apartheid film about rugby team.

If all goes well, Clint Eastwood will direct Morgan Freeman for a third time in their storied careers. Following "Unforgiven" and Oscar-winner "Million Dollar Baby," Eastwood is in talks to helm "The Human Factor," about how the 1995 Rugby World Cup helped heal post-apartheid race relations in South Africa. Freeman would play the role of Nelson Mandela. The film is set immediately after the fall of apartheid, and after Mandela was released from a long imprisonment and became South African president. Mandela recognized the significance when South Africa was selected host of the 1995 Rugby World Cup after the team had been barred from even competing since the 1980s because of apartheid. Freeman, who stars with Jack Nicholson in the upcoming Rob Reiner-directed WB film "The Bucket List," went to South Africa with McCreary last spring to get Mandela's blessing on the project. Matt Damon is in talks to play the captain of the Springboks team. Freeman and Revelations partner Lori McCreary are co-producing, while Warner Bros is currently negotiating to provide financing."The Human Factor" is an adaptation of the John Carlin book "The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Changed the World." SOURCE OF THIS STORY