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KEKE PALMER GETS HER CLOSEUP AT SHOWEST: Twelve-year-old praised during screening of ‘Akeelah and the Bee.’
*It was all about 12-year-old actress Keke Palmer Tuesday (March 14) at the annual ShoWest convention in Las Vegas.
During a ceremony marking her title as ShoWest Rising Star of the Year, the youngster was lauded by the suits at Lionsgate for bringing her A-game to its upcoming film “Akeelah and the Bee,” where she plays a middle-school student in South Central Los Angeles who dreams of entering the Scripps Howard Spelling Bee.
Fresh from their Oscar best picture win for "Crash" a week earlier, Lionsgate’s Releasing president Steve Rothenberg and Theatrical Films president Tom Ortenberg were on hand at ShoWest to welcome exhibitors to a screening of “Akeelah” at the Le Theatre Des Arts in the Paris Hotel.
“Akeelah” producer Sid Ganis described the 10-year journey of the project, which sprung forth from an original screenplay by its director, Doug Atchison. Even after the film's producers had scored powerhouse actors Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett to play the adult leads, the project still depended on finding a young actress with the chops to pull of the title role. During a nationwide search, a tape of Palmer landed on the desks of the filmmakers, and the rest was history.
Palmer’s budding film experience includes roles in the TNT original movie "The Wool Cap," a bit part in "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" and a plum role as Madea’s foster child in “Madea’s Family Reunion.”
“Akeelah,” due in theaters April 28, was produced in association with 2929 Prods. and Starbucks Entertainment, becoming the first feature that the coffee chain will promote in its outlets in exchange for a financial stake in the picture.
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