Front of the Class

Front of the Class (2008)

24 schools turned him down, 1 gave him a chance… The unforgettable story of a teacher determined to make a difference.

A boy with Tourette's syndrome overcomes criticism and discrimination to achieve his dream of becoming a teacher.

Date of release
2008-12-07
TMDB
8.1 / 10 (340)
Runtime
1h 35m
Genres
Drama
Director
Peter Werner

Casting

Interesting facts

Front of the Class is a 2008 American biographical drama television film directed by Peter Werner and written by Tom Rickman, based on the 2005 memoir Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had by Brad Cohen and co-authored by Lisa Wysocky, which tells of Cohen's life with Tourette syndrome and how it inspired him to teach other students.

Production

The script was adapted from the book Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had by Brad Cohen and Lisa Wysockyby and the movie was directed by Peter Werner. Production was in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Following his 2006 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in 2007 Cohen spoke at a conference after Timothy Shriver of the Special Olympics. According to Shriver, "The audience 'was laughing, then crying, then laughing, then crying, then cheering, and at the end, they gave him a huge standing ovation.'" Shriver suggested the movie to Cohen and became the executive producer one year later.

To portray Cohen's tics accurately, James Wolk and Dominic Scott Kay viewed videotapes and worked with a dialect coach, describing their preparation as a "Tourette's boot camp". Cohen said the portrayal of his tics is "very, very authentic".

Although tics steadily decline for most children as they pass through adolescence, Cohen still has frequent and loud vocal tics and barking. He joked: "I'm hoping I don't get kicked out of my own movie."

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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