![]() ![]() But she rises above fear and her negative self-image.”Īkeelah is played by rising star Keke Palmer, who lives in the role and embodies the strengths and frustrations of a girl who the community starts to count on once she starts winning. “Akeelah has low expectations for herself. “Do you know what some of the children say about kids who do well in school? They say they are ‘acting white.’ Now what is it about being successful and intelligent that has anything to do with being white?” He wanted to show the fear that causes these children, who already have hurdles, to start doubting themselves. Akeelah, in the film, is called names whenever she gets the answers right in class and Doug says this drew from experiences he had. But working in this center I got a much better sense for how these kids talk,” the director commented. “I went to USC film school which is in south Los Angeles, and I knew people from this neighborhood. to get the kids’ attitudes right in his movie. The thing people keep saying about it is that it’s sincere.” Doug, who was born in Detroit and grew up in Arizona, worked in a youth center in L.A. But every year came around and I watched these kids and there was no movie.”Īt this point, two movies have beaten him to the finish line, but Doug doesn’t seem too worried about that. “I just thought someone else would do it first. However he didn’t start on the actual script until four years later. I knew there was a movie here,” Doug explained. I look up and I’ve been watching it for three and a half hours. You just get sucked in by these kids and you start rooting for them. “I was channel surfing and I came upon these kids spelling. Doug got the idea while flipping channels in 1994, the year ESPN first aired the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She ends up getting pushed into the spelling bee circuit by a principal who wants a little notoriety for a terribly under-funded school. “Akeelah and the Bee,” Doug’s second movie, follows the story of a young girl in South Los Angeles who has a natural talent for spelling but is afraid to assert herself intellectually in front of ridiculing classmates. When I came into the meeting after the first screening I had ten times more notes than they had.” “We didn’t have a lot of money but creatively, they were great. “I’ve been spoiled,” says Doug about his experience with Lion’s Gate, which is the last independently owned major production company. His movie “Akeelah and the Bee” is getting the same treatment from its production company, Lion’s Gate, that it gave to “Crash” last year. He walks over to where I am sitting ready to go again, still excited to be answering the same questions he must have heard a thousand times today. Along the way, as they compete and rise to the challenge, they learn enough about themselves to earn the title of champion, whether they win the trophy or not.Doug Atchison has just finished a radio interview in the corner. They are each a bit of a misfit, but stand tall and are willing to risk everything to write their own ticket to destiny and pride. Where else would you find a Boy Scout named Chip (John Corraro) who wears a chestful of badges, a pig-tailed angel Logainne (Kristen Diglio), who sports not one dad but two, which influences her leadership of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance and original Flower Child named Leaf Coneybear (Justin Zenchuk), who makes his own cheerful and colorful clothing,Įach contestant wants to win so they can say they succeeded at something special. ![]() The Scripps National Spelling Bee is held in Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend, and has been held every year since 1925, except during WWII, but "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" deserves kudos and accolades as well. You, too, can earn a juice box and a hug from the official comfort counselor Mitch (Zachary Haywood), who is there serving out his community service while on parole. If you're daring and live on the edge, you might even volunteer to be one of the extra, hand-selected individuals to join the bee on stage with an official entry number and everything. Guest spellers are invited to come on stage and show off their literary stuff. If you're already a fan, go again and take some friends or family with you. If you've never experienced it, what a treat. The late great playwright Wendy Wasserstein is credited with putting composer William Finn together with his former student Rachel Sheinkin and her co-creator Rebecca Feldman to turn this original non-musical C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E (one of the spelling words) into this Tony Award-winning musical. Center Stage Theatre of Shelton will be encouraging you to come and practice your spelling bee list for the competitions to be held weekends through June 25. ![]()
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