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CNN Saturday Morning News
Teen Film Critic Discusses Writing Reviews Since Age 9
Aired September 14, 2002 - 09:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's do some movie reviews, shall we? And for that we turn to Billy Norris, 14 years old. He writes about movies for the "St. Petersburg Times.
How -- Billy, how did you get this job?
BILLY NORRIS, TEEN MOVIE CRITIC: Well, it started -- I'm going on my fifth year with the "St. Pete Times." And it started when I was...
O'BRIEN: So you were 9?
NORRIS: Yes, I was 9.
O'BRIEN: You were 9 years old.
NORRIS: Yes. And...
O'BRIEN: And you wrote a review, and what happened?
NORRIS: Well, it started out, they have this team of kid reporters called the X Team...
O'BRIEN: Cool.
NORRIS: ... and I sent in an application to get on that, and I was accepted. And I started writing, you know, general articles, just started writing about, Kennedy Space Center and things of that nature.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that's cool, yes.
NORRIS: And after a year doing that, my editors asked me if I'd like to be the film critic. And that had always been my dream job. I've always seen the movie reviews in the paper, and they asked me if I wanted to the film critic for the page. I generously accepted.
And from there, I just started reviewing movies, and it got better and better. And this is the best job a kid my age could have. I'm loving it.
O'BRIEN: I can only imagine. You're thinking about dropping out of school and just doing it full time?
NORRIS: Oh, absolutely not.
O'BRIEN: Good. Good answer.
All right, quickly, give us the movie you are liking right now. There's not a lot out there, is there?
NORRIS: No, there's not. There's kind of slim pickins right now. "Barber Shop" starring Ice Cube, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the entertainer Shawn Patrick Thomas. It's a comedy based in the south side of Chicago. It has an ensemble cast. It's about Calvin, who is played by Ice Cube. He's the owner of a local barber shop, which is kind of where all the locals hang out and socialize. And it's a story about traditions based around the age-old moral of money isn't everything.
The casting was great, especially Cedric, the entertainer, who plays the old coot who's kind of been around for 40 years since Calvin's father owned the barber shop. And he just rants and raves and rambles on about, you know, everything from fried chicken to Don King. And he's absolutely hilarious. Then...
O'BRIEN: All right. So this is going to cross over into a broad audience?
NORRIS: Yes, probably teenagers and up. It's definitely going to be enjoyed by a lot of people.
O'BRIEN: All right. I am sorry we took all your time today.
NORRIS: Oh, that's quite all right.
O'BRIEN: ... in our Reporter's Notebook. As I explained to him in the break there, we had so many good questions on the issue of Iraq that we took a little bit of Billy's time. And for that, we're going to say publicly, we invite you back, Billy. We'd like you to come back and tell us about some more movies in the near future, OK?
NORRIS: Absolutely. Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: All right, all right, thanks very much for being with us.
NORRIS: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Billy Norris with the "St. Pete Times," all of 14 years old. He's a veteran, five years.
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