Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman talk Invictus with Parade Magazine.

Invictus, the new movie set in South Africa in the mid-1990s that takes a look at life of Nelson Mandela, when he campaigned to host the Rugby World Cup as a chance to unite his country after the abolishment of apartheid. Morgan Freeman spoke about his relationship with Mandela, and how he always wanted to play the inspiring leader on film.

“He told me he wanted me to play him in a movie someday,” the actor recalls. “I said, ‘Then I need access to you, and I need to be able to hold your hand.’ And he said, ‘We’ll do that.’ So anytime we were anywhere in proximity after that, we’d shmooze. I’ve always been preparing for the time I stepped in front of the camera as him,” Freeman adds. “The luckiest part of my entire existence is finding this script and sending it to Clint, and then he said, ‘Yes.’ ”

Matt Damon reflected on the impact of prejudice on children today saying that:

“I don’t think it’s a natural state for children to be prejudiced,” Damon says. “A case in point: I was trying to explain segregation to my stepdaughter. We talked about Alabama in the ’60s, and she was utterly baffled. Alexia is very dark—her father is Cuban, and my wife’s Argentinean—so I tried to explain that she probably would not have been able to use white water fountains. She goes to school with all types of kids and plays with everyone, so it was a lot for her to grasp.”

Director Clint Eastwood also touches on the important role that parents play in teaching tolerance saying

“My wife’s part black, and she grew up in Fremont, California, with people saying ‘You can’t drink from that tap’ and calling her bad names. I like to think we’re way beyond that, but so much prejudice, even now, comes from parents. The old mentality that someone is superior to someone else is shoved down at the kids, and they carry it all their lives.”

Invictus will be in theaters December 11th.

For more on the interview and to see a slide show of the stars, visit Parade.com