HOLLYWOOD, CA—Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman has become a household name and nearly universally recognizable face after acting in hundreds of films throughout his career. His distinct voice also keeps him in high demand as a narrator for works as diverse as nature documentaries and commercials as well as feature films. The Colon's own Todd Blankenship caught up with the legend in an exclusive interview to learn how the octogenarian keeps so active in media. "Well, you know, not a lot of people know this," revealed Freeman, "but I started cloning myself back in the late 1990s." The co-star of The Shawshank Redemption clarified that by "cloning," he means that he hired a geneticist to grow a duplicate of Freeman whom he could then train to act in his stead. "I don't know what else I would have done at the time. I mean, surely by now everyone has noticed that I am contractually obligated to appear or speak in literally every motion picture produced in the United States. I don't know how one little Morgan could have done such a thing, so I made two." Freeman went on to explain that, after the success of the first clone in his role in Kiss the Girls (1997), he decided to make a few more duplicates to "spread the wealth." By the end of the century, he had 4 clones regularly working throughout the nation on various projects. "I actually took the summer of 1999 off. Spent the whole time in my basement playing video games," he shared. At some point, Freeman explains that one of his clones made at least one other copy of himself. Freeman is certain of this because he states that it was this duplicate who starred in The Bucket List (2007). "If there's one thing I know, it's my own face," he stated. "I don't know who that old geezer is standing with Jack Nicholson in that movie, but it sure as hell wasn't one of mine." Freeman admitted that he currently is unsure how many copies of him are active at present, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were as many as 20, given the number of projects on which he is credited. When asked if cloning onesself is common practice among actors, Freeman noted that he knows of several others who have made duplicates of themselves, but often with disappointing results. "Kevin Spacey learned the hard way what not to do. He let one of his clones speak to the press about some sexual misconduct allegations, and well, you know how that turned out. Poor clone was euthanized that night, and now there's just the one Kevin." Freeman explained that he has no plans to rein in his clones, as he is confident that he's trained them well. However, the interview came to an abrupt end when the interviewer asked Freeman how he could know that he was, in fact, the original Morgan Freeman. The actor or one of his duplicates is set to act in at least five major motion pictures in 2019.