WREG-TV in Memphis is reporting that actor Morgan Freeman was airlifted to The Med hospital in "critical condition" following a car crash in Mississippi late last night. According to the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the actor's car reportedly went off Highway 32 in Tallahatchie County at around 11:30PM and "flipped several times." A woman in the car with Freeman was also taken to The Med. WREG says they were told by police Freeman may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

TMZ reports that, according to their source, Freeman was "sitting up and talking at the hospital" following the crash, that the actor suffered some broken ribs and injured knees, and that his female passenger had to be cut out of the car using the Jaws of Life, but that she's also okay.

Freeman lives in Mississippi, where he took time out of his busy filming schedule in February to give a boost to the Oxford Film Festival as a surprise guest, showing up at the fest's first screening to kick things off with some words of encouragement for the fest and attending filmmakers, and encouraged the local audience to continue their support of independent film.

The venerable actor was most recently seen in box office smash The Dark Knight as Lucius Fox, and IMDb lists numerous projects in pre-and-post production on his slate. We here at Cinematical hope that Freeman will be okay, and we thank Michelle Emmanuel at Oxford Film Festival for letting us know about the accident this morning. We'll keep you posted throughout the day as we have updates for you, in the meantime, we'll be keeping Freeman in our thoughts and prayers.

Eric Snider and I spent this past weekend in lovely Oxford, Mississippi with our friend Jen Yamato from Rotten Tomatoes, where the three of us participated in a panel on Film and New Media for the Oxford Film Festival. I also served on the documentary features jury for the fest. Scott Weinberg was supposed to have been here with me and Jen, but a serious tooth issue kept him home in Philly. Scott still pulled duty on the dramatic features jury for the fest, and Eric very kindly dropped things on a moment's notice the other day to fly to Oxford in Scott's stead.

The three of us had an absolute blast in Oxford. I love these small town film festivals ... everyone is so nice, the pace is laid-back and mellow -- a nice change coming off the craziness of Sundance. We got into Memphis on Thursday, and Jen and I had some yummy BBQ at Corky's -- Memphis-style "dry" ribs and brisket that was to die for. Mmmm. After Eric got in, we drove the hour or so trip to Oxford.