Lawrence Fishburne does it for the kids

By Matt Ryan
Collegian Reporter
April 12, 2006

“It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids… It’s for the adults too, but mainly it’s for the kids.”

This is what Laurence Fishburne said at the opening night of the Philadelphia Film Festival Festival after his new movie Akeelah and the Bee premiered.

Akeelah and the Bee is a classic underdog story about a girl, Akeelah (Keke Palmer), from Southern Los Angeles who has dreams of becoming the Howard Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. The story starts out with an opening scene where an unenthusiastic Akeelah shields her spelling test with a perfect grade from her classmates who didn’t fare so well.

From there her teacher encourages her to enter the school’s spelling bee, which could lead to bigger things. During her quest for the title, she has many obstacles to face, but with the help of her coach Dr. Joshua Larabee (Fishburne), she is capable of accomplishing anything.

After the show, writer and director, Doug Atchison, shared his thoughts on the film. He said he got the idea in 1994 when he was watching a basketball game. During a commercial break, he flipped to ESPN and became captivated by the Howard Scripps Spelling Bee. He found it more interesting and entertaining than the basketball game he was watching. He also said that to his knowledge, this was the only movie to feature an African-American female girl in every scene, which he claimed was something needed by the industry.

Akeelah and the Bee premieres in theaters in late April.

ryanm1@lasalle.edu