“Dark Knight” star Morgan Freeman was hospitalized in a Memphis hospital on Monday, following a Sunday night car accident, confirmed hospital spokeswoman Kathy Stringer, according to the Associated Press.

Stringer also said Freeman, 71, was in serious condition. Regional Medical Center, where the actor is hospitalized, is situated about 90 miles north of the accident scene in Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta.

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Ben Williams told Memphis’ NBC affiliate that Freeman was traveling eastbound on Mississippi Highway 32, in the company of a female passenger, when his vehicle went off the road. Apparently, the car flipped several times before coming to a rest.

The emergency crews had to use the jaws of life in order to extract Freeman and his passenger from the actor’s 1997 Nissan Maxima and then the two victims were airlifted to the hospital.

“They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle,” said Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, who arrived at the accident scene soon after it happened. “He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point.”

McFerrin also said that bystanders were trying to get a glimpse of the actor, and some of them were even trying to take photos.

The condition of Freeman’s companion has not yet been released, but Freeman was listed in serious condition Monday.

Freeman was driving a Nissan that belonged to a woman named Demaris Meyer, who was also injured in the crash. No other vehicles were involved in the incident. But police ruled out that alcohol or drugs played a role and were investigating whether Freeman fell asleep at the wheel.

Freeman won an Oscar for his performance in 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby” and earned a Golden Globe Award for best actor for the 1990 film “Driving Miss Daisy.”

It seems that, despite the big earnings it grossed at the box office, “The Dark Knight” is surrounded by bad luck. First it was the untimely death of Heath Ledger, who was grieved by all his colleagues and fans from all over the world, then Christian Bale was the center of attention due to assaults against his mother and sister on the day of the film’s premiere in London. Now it’s Morgan Freeman’s car crash…

Hopefully, the misfortunes will stop here and the actors will be free to enjoy the success of their film.