Akeelah And The Bee Page #3

Synopsis: Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Doug Atchison
Production: Lionsgate Releasing
  12 wins & 14 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.4
Metacritic:
72
Rotten Tomatoes:
84%
PG
Year:
2006
112 min
$18,811,135
Website
8,575 Views


Do you know who that was?

That was Dr. Joshua Larabee.

He used to chair

the EngIish department at UCLA.

He and I went to coIIege together.

But get this-

when he was a kid, he went aII the way

to the nationaI speIIing bee.

And he thinks you have a chance

of going there yourseIf.

I'm sorry,

but I ain't doin'

no more speIIing bees.

AkeeIah-

GirI, you kicked some major booty

on that stage today.

But I couIdn't speII puIchritude.

But you knocked aII them other words

right back at that dude.

They were just trick words. Everybody

knows pterodactyI starts with a P.

GirI, if I couId speII Iike you,

I know I couId be a fIight attendant.

Devon:

KeeIie, hey, wake up.

Hey.

- Dev, are you Ieaving?

- Yeah, gotta get back to the base.

Hey, your principaI

caIIed Mama.

Said you did reaI good

in the speIIing bee Iast week.

- I messed up a word.

- He said you got a Iot of them right.

He aIso said

you've got an opportunity

to go to an even bigger

contest next week.

- I don't want to do it.

- Why not?

Everybody's gonna be

Iooking at me

and there's gonna be

tons of words I don't know.

So you're scared, huh?

How do you think I feIt the first time

I had to jump out of an airpIane?

I mean, my whoIe body

said "Don't do it."

But sometimes your brain gotta be

smarter than your body, you know?

But I don't Iike my schooI.

I don't see why I gotta do

anything for them.

Then do it for Dad.

I mean, you know

how he was about words.

He'd have Ioved to see you

do something Iike this.

- What'd Mama say about it?

- You know how Mama is.

She got a miIIion things

to worry about.

TeII you what,

just do this contest,

and if you make it aII the way to DC,

I wiII parachute down to see you.

WouId you Iike that?

That is a wonderfuI decision, AkeeIah,

a wonderfuI decision.

You think maybe the schooI

couId buy me a new outfit,

you know, for the district bee?

Uh... I don't know, maybe.

If you make it to the state regionaI,

maybe something couId be arranged.

But you're gonna have to finish in

the top 10 at the district IeveI first.

And, AkeeIah, you're going to be going

up against kids from Santa Monica,

WoodIand HiIIs, BeverIy HiIIs.

Some of these kids have been doing this

for years and never even made it to DC.

- WeII, maybe I shouId just give up now.

- No no no.

No, I'm just saying

you need to train hard.

- With Dr. Larabee.

- What?

I don't need any heIp from him.

I couId do this on my own.

AkeeIah, the best speIIers

in the worId have coaches.

I finaIIy got him to consider

taking some time

during his sabbaticaI

to work with you.

PIease, just taIk with him.

Here.

He doesn't Iive far from here.

Rate this script:4.0 / 1 vote

Doug Atchison

Doug Atchison is an American motion picture director and screenwriter. He received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship for Akeelah and the Bee in 2006.After winning the Nicholl Fellowship, former ICM superagent Lou Pitt guided Doug's screenplay into production in partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment, 2929 Entertainment, and Starbucks Productions. Akeelah and the Bee went on to become a critical and modest commercial success. In 2006, Atchison entered into a three-picture deal with The Weinstein Company. It was reported in 2012 that Atchison is attached to direct a movie about the hockey player Derek Sanderson.Atchison graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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