Reprint from the Progress Times - May 19, 2006
©Progress Times 2006 - All Rights Reserved

Mission Student Has Role
In Major Movie

 

A Mission Junior High student has the distinction of having starred in a major children’s movie produced in California. Eighth grader J.R. Villarreal was co-star to Keke Palmer in the recent movie, Akeelah and the Bee, which is now showing in local theaters.

J.R. plays the role of Javier Mendez in the movie. His character supported Akeelah in her quest for a national spelling championship. Asked how his character assists Akeelah, Villarreal said he does not want to give away the plot of the movie to that those who have not yet seen it.

As incredible as it may seem, J.R. got his start through a talent search held at the Sheraton in McAllen. “The scouts were looking for young people with good personalities and good bone structure,” he said. He was selected by a scout to go to another competition in Dallas. Testing well in Dallas, he met a manager who made arrangements for him to travel to California for auditions. The result was a starring role in Akeelah and the Bee.

J.R. had to spend February, 2005, on location in California during the filming. Although one month is relatively short period of time to shoot a movie, it was sufficient for Akeelah and the Bee. During that time he worked nine and a half hours a day and spent three hours being schooled by a private tutor. In addition to working with Keke Palmer, he also worked closely with adult co-star Lawrence Fishburne. While on location in California, he saw many other well known actors and actresses such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

The experience was positive for the youngster, who says, “I want to act for the rest of my life. I have a passion for it. I just love doing it.”

Asked what was the hardest part of doing the movie, he unhesitatingly says, “It was learning to spell all those words.” Because the movie was about winning a national spelling contest, many of the words were difficult and obscure. But he still had to learn to spell them for the movie.

“Learning the regular lines was easy,” J.R. said. “I just did what my heart told me and what came naturally.” He said he was pleased with the character he played. “It was an amazing experience for me,” he continued. “The movie has a message about minority kids. “

During filming, J.R. became good friends with Palmer, who he still talks to occasionally by phone. He recently saw her again at the premiere of the movie.

Asked how his friends treat him, now that they have seen him as an actor on the big screen, he replied, “A group of friends went with me to see the movie when it opened in Mission. There is a scene in the movie where I have to kiss Keke Palmer. When the movie got to that scene, my friends started teasing me about kissing her.” However, he said most of his friends treat him the same way they did before they saw the movie. “But some of them think I really was a national spelling bee contestant. They ask me how to spell a lot of words because they think I should be able to spell them.”

Asked how he felt watching himself on the big screen, J.R. replied, “It’s weird to watch myself on screen. At first all I could do was watch my performance to see what I did right or wrong. I did not pay any attention to the movie’s story. But now I can watch the movie.”

Since production of Akeelah and the Bee, J.R. has starred in another movie that has not yet been released. “The Death and Life of Bobby Z” was filmed in Baja California. He appears in the movie with Lawrence Fishburne and Paul Walker. This movie took slightly longer to film and J.R. was on location between two and three months. No date has been set yet for the release of the movie. However, since the release of Akeelah and the Bee, which has met with favorable reviews, he has been told to expect more offers because of his outstanding performance.

Since completing his second movie, he has had some inquiries about other possible roles but nothing has been finalized yet.

“It’s great to get paid for what you love to do,” he said. In addition to acting. J.R. hopes to get into producing, directing and writing scripts in the future. After completing high school he hopes to attend New York University, which specializes in teaching those skills. Or, he said, he might like to attend Oxford and study archaeology, another of his interests.

Regardless of what he does in the future, J.R. radiates a personality that says he will do it well.