BlackTree TVThe Reel Thing: The Great Debaters
"Pillars of the Hollywood film industry team up to come up with what could be the most moving film of the year - The Great Debaters. Hollywood A-listers Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker combine their creative geniuses with the hopes of delivering a stirring take on a true story about a group of wordsmiths from an unknown African-American college. While it can be argued that it's an overused plotline (African Americans thriving against racial discrimination), the angle in The Great Debaters is a new twist on a race that's (misguidedly) expected to dominate on sports rather than academics. Already it's being billed as this year's Little Miss Sunshine and was even voted by a top online poker community as an Oscar Best Picture sleeper. Read more about this movie production below."
Interview with Denzel Whitaker, Jurnee Smollet & Nate Parker
BlackTree TV Executive Producer Jamaal Finkley sits down with the phenomonal cast of The Great Debaters to discuss history, making history, and making intelligence a cool thing.
Oprah Winfrey Interview
Through her company's film division, Harpo Films, Oprah Winfrey has produced projects based on classic and contemporary literature that have garnered the highest industry honors for quality acting and production. Telefilms under the "Oprah Winfrey Presents" banner have included the award-winning Tuesdays With Morrie, based on the best-selling novel by Mitch Albom and starring Academy Award®-winner Jack Lemmon and Emmy Award®-winner Hank Azaria; Their Eyes Were Watching God, based on the Zora Neale Hurston novel and starring Academy Award®-winner Halle Berry; and Mitch Albom's For One More Day, based on his best-selling novel and starring Emmy Award®-winner Michael Imperioli and Academy Award®-winner Ellen Burstyn.
In 1998, Harpo Films produced the critically acclaimed Beloved, a Touchstone Pictures feature film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni Morrison, which co-starred Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover and was directed by Jonathan Demme.
Winfrey made her acting debut in 1985 as Sofia in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, for which she received both Academy Award® and Golden Globe® nominations. She also has been lauded for her performances in the made-for-television movies Before Women Had Wings (1997), There Are No Children Here (1993), and The Women of Brewster Place (1989).
The Great Debaters is a fictional story inspired by Wiley College's winning debate team of the early 1930s. Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington steps behind the camera for a second time to direct. He joins fellow Academy Award® winner Forest Whitaker and co-stars as Melvin B. Tolson, the legendary coach. Harpo Films' Oprah Winfrey and Kate Forte produced with Todd Black (The Pursuit of Happyness) and Joe Roth (Mona Lisa Smile).
Filmed primarily in northeastern Louisiana with a few days in east Texas, production started on May 14, and ended on July 16, 2007.
Production then moved to Boston to film the key Harvard scenes at the prestigious Sanders Theatre in Memorial Hall as well as turning the Wang Theater's foyer into South Station circa 1935. Monday, July 23, 2007, was the last day of filming.
(Via Satellite)
THE GREAT DEBATERS
Believe in the power of words.
From two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington and an ensemble cast lead by Washington that includes Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, comes "The Great Debaters." Inspired by a true story, "The Great Debaters" chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), a brilliant but volatile debate team coach who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from a small African American college in the deep south into a historically elite debate team. A controversial figure, Professor Tolson challenged the social mores of the time and was under constant fire for his unconventional and ferocious teaching methods as well as his radical political views.
In their pursuit for excellence, Tolson's debate team receives a groundbreaking invitation to debate Harvard University's championship team. The film is directed by Denzel Washington and stars Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jurnee Smollett, Nate Parker, Denzel Whitaker, and Kimberly Elise. "The Great Debaters" was written by Robert Eisele and Tom Epperson and produced by Todd Black, Kate Forte, Oprah Winfrey and Joe Roth. Presented by The Weinstein Company, "The Great Debaters," was released by MGM on December 25th.
