Jin Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 Will Smith In Negotiations To Play Philly Chess Player, Teacher By Alexis Jeffries and Houston Williams Date: 1/22/2007 1:15 pm After a highly-acclaimed performance as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith may play another real-life hero, Salome Thomas-El, in an upcoming Disney film. Smith is in negotiations to play Salome Thomas-El, a well known middle school principal and school board member in Philadelphia. Thomas-El chronicled his life in an autobiography called I Choose To Stay: A Black Teacher Refuses to Desert the Inner City, and Disney decided to turn the book into a motion picture based on Thomas-El's inspirational story. "I'm trying to get young people to understand that they have to try to give to the community because the community gave to us," Thomas El told AllHipHop.com. "At some point the community supported us or our parents so that we could be in the position where we are." Born into a fatherless home as one of eight kids in Philadelphia's tough inner city, Thomas-El left home to pursue his own dreams, only to return as a middle school teacher in his old community. His work as a teacher and principal at Reynolds Elementary School in North Philadelphia caught the attention of community members and even California State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who awarded a $20,000 grant to Thomas-El's school. In his biography, Thomas-El notes the impact that the game of chess has had on his life. At a young age he learned the game of chess from an older brother, but never utilized his chess skills until he became a teacher, using chess as a way to teach his students many life-lessons, including decision-making, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills. "It's mentally challenging," Thomas-El continued. "You know, we come from a people that built pyramids that are still standing today with no machinery, no modern technology, and no nothing. So, if a kid is trying to master 64 squares, it's mathematical and very scientific. But it's also critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, and these are all skills that our children have." His success with students at Philadelphia's Vaux Middle School playing chess has led to eight national championships and many of his students became motivated to stay in school, graduated and went on to attend college. "When a young kid is growing up in the hood, they have to make several different life changing decisions on a daily basis," Thomas-El said. "He's got to know whose house to go into, whose house they are selling drugs out of, who drives stolen cars, who's carrying a weapon, who's looking for who. Chess is a series of decisions, consequences, rewards, sacrifices, and it's so relevant to a kid growing up in the projects and in public housing because you've got to be willing to take prisoners when you play chess. So, really it's like a release for these kids who are dodging bullets every day." Thomas-El now works to spread chess to all school children, working with America's Foundation for Chess. Disney Studios is preparing the untitled film on Thomas-El's life, which was written by Don D. Scott (Barbershop 1 and 2) and is based on the educator's autobiography. His second book, The Immortality of Influence features an excerpt written by Will Smith. http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=6623 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy Julie Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 The fact that its disney gets me excited, but chess! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 The fact that its disney gets me excited, but chess! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY boring. well said... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Willie Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 It might be boring, just like people didnt like Bagger Vance because it was about golf. Although it went a lot deeper than golf, there was a lot of life lessons to learn from that movie. I liked it myself because I'm a big golf fan, but I can also see where other people may not have been able to get into that. As far as this movie goes, if he signs onto it, I wont knock it until i've seen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fan 4ever Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Another movie??? :shakehead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerkot Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Another movie??? :shakehead: What the hell did you expect? The fact that its chess gets me excited, but Disney! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY bad. Whats the latest good movie they made? Hmm... the Lion King was ok. Before that? The Jungle Book. Thats 30 years between... the odds arent too good with other words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turntable Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I think this sounds very intressting. Both, Disney and Chess. But what cought my ear is: "When a young kid is growing up in the hood, they have to make several different life changing decisions on a daily basis," Thomas-El said. "He's got to know whose house to go into, whose house they are selling drugs out of, who drives stolen cars, who's carrying a weapon, who's looking for who. Chess is a series of decisions, consequences, rewards, sacrifices, and it's so relevant to a kid growing up in the projects and in public housing because you've got to be willing to take prisoners when you play chess. So, really it's like a release for these kids who are dodging bullets every day." It's inspirational. I'd love to see this movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhoon20 Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Another movie??? :shakehead: What the hell did you expect? The fact that its chess gets me excited, but Disney! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY bad. Whats the latest good movie they made? Hmm... the Lion King was ok. Before that? The Jungle Book. Thats 30 years between... the odds arent too good with other words. The Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the black pearl and Dead man's chest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerkot Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Another movie??? :shakehead: What the hell did you expect? The fact that its chess gets me excited, but Disney! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY bad. Whats the latest good movie they made? Hmm... the Lion King was ok. Before that? The Jungle Book. Thats 30 years between... the odds arent too good with other words. The Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the black pearl and Dead man's chest. Yeah well.. dont agree really. But sure, they were both decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Another movie??? :shakehead: What the hell did you expect? The fact that its chess gets me excited, but Disney! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY bad. Whats the latest good movie they made? Hmm... the Lion King was ok. Before that? The Jungle Book. Thats 30 years between... the odds arent too good with other words. The Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the black pearl and Dead man's chest. Yeah well.. dont agree really. But sure, they were both decent. the one thing Disney should get credit for is really having a solid formula for these type of biography movies...the Rookie and such are well done movies on true stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy Julie Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Another movie??? :shakehead: What the hell did you expect? The fact that its chess gets me excited, but Disney! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY bad. Whats the latest good movie they made? Hmm... the Lion King was ok. Before that? The Jungle Book. Thats 30 years between... the odds arent too good with other words. lerkot im shocked, you've insulted Will, many great artists, movies and even my religion, but now you've criticized disney, you've take it too far!!!! :shakehead: :wiggle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerkot Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Another movie??? :shakehead: What the hell did you expect? The fact that its chess gets me excited, but Disney! I might be wrong but that movie could be REALLY bad. Whats the latest good movie they made? Hmm... the Lion King was ok. Before that? The Jungle Book. Thats 30 years between... the odds arent too good with other words. lerkot im shocked, you've insulted Will, many great artists, movies and even my religion, but now you've criticized disney, you've take it too far!!!! :shakehead: :wiggle: Naaah.. or well... yes. There are worse things than Disney, and they have made some real classics, but the last ten years they havent made much good stuff. And it kinda annoy me to like anything by a company named after Walt Disney who was quite a sick persons. Especially in old things from Disney you see hidden messages that are really disturbing and some of that tradition lives on today... even if its much less disgusting. My favorite sequence when I show how horrible Disney was a person is from Santa's Workshop where you can see Disneys portrait of what he thought was a typical jew: a man on one of those one wheel bicycle reaching out his hands, obviously begging for money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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