The Message of Akeelah and the Bee: What does Fishburne believe parents will take away from this movie? “I think they can take a lot, but I think the most important thing seems to me to be to pay attention to your kids. Pay attention to your children,” said Fishburne. “That is something that I still struggle with. I mean, you know, it’s hard. I’m a divorced parent; I have a very, very big and busy life, so I continually struggle with making time for my children.”
Another Important Issue Addressed in Akeelah and the Bee: Fishburne agrees with his character on the need for young people to speak properly and not rely on slang. “I’ll tell you that it was important to my mother that I know how to speak properly, and that I always try to use my language and use my words and use my manners, and so that’s how I was raised. That’s how I try to carry myself most of the time. I can’t speak for anybody else, and I think a lot of people kind of look up to me and use me as an example of what they could be, but part of the actor’s instrument is his voice, his speaking voice, and I’ve developed mine pretty well. I just keep using it. But I can’t pass judgment on how anybody speaks or doesn’t speak. Language is a funny thing; language is a way in which we really express ourselves.”
Laurence Fishburne on the Film’s Star – Keke Palmer: “Keke Palmer is an extraordinary talent. She has intelligence, she has intuition, she has this gift that I was reminded of myself when watching her and working with her. I imagine that my talent was kind of like hers when I was young. I really hope and pray that she has a long and fruitful career and that she’s able to negotiate all the pitfalls – the highs and the lows of this business, because they’re very, very difficult.”
Reuniting with Angela Bassett: Fishburne and Bassett were both in Boyz n the Hood and co-starred in the 1993 hit, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Fishburne said, “I think we were always hoping that Angela would come along and do the movie. We went out to her and I think she kind of wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to do it, and we had a conversation and she was like, ‘Okay.’"
Though they enjoyed their time on the set of ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It, Fishburne and Bassett weren’t actively looking for another project to do together. “We got a lot of attention, both of us, for those performances,” explained Fishburne. “And I think it was really important for the two of us to go off and do our own thing individually. We had done Boyz n the Hood together in ’91 I guess, and people were really kind of impressed with that. We only had one scene together and we had the thing on the phone - we had that one scene in the restaurant. People really liked that, and that was great.
We almost made a movie together three years before that, that actually was a picture that she and Natasha Richardson were going to be the stars of. They were going to be the leads and Tony Todd and I were cast as the other parts. Anyway, the money fell out of the bottom… So Angela and I have this long history and it was just really important for her and for me to do stuff independently because it’s a given that when we come together that good things are going to happen.
What was nice about Akeelah and the Bee is that it kind of reminded us of that. I think now would be a good time for us to start looking for things to do together, because there’s been such a considerable amount of time since What’s Love and enough time that people won’t come to the movie with that kind of expectation, because there is no way we can actually repeat that.”
Fishburne Also Toiled Away Behind the Scenes of Akeelah and the Bee: “I read it in ’04, no, I read it in ’02, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is beautiful, this is wonderful. Oh s**t.’ And then I was heartbroken because I realized that there were very few people with the courage to come forward to make this kind of movie. I threw my hat in and said, ‘Yes, I’ll act in it, and if helps that I produce it too, then okay.’ And then things progressed. Doug [Atchison] started looking for his Akeelah and producers Sid [Ganis] and Nancy [Hult], the rest of the gang started doing what they needed to do to get the financing.”
This was writer/director Atchison’s first feature film and, according to Fishburne, the rookie director handled it well. “I enjoyed working with him. I always enjoy working with first-timers who, particularly first-time writer/directors, who I think have written something beautiful, because they’re so invested, they’re so passionate about it. It means everything that they get the opportunity to direct their pieces as well. That’s great to be able to help somebody realize a dream like that.”
