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| “ | I told you my name. It's f*ck you. Mr. F*ck You. You better f*cking remember it, because you don't burn me down, I burn you down. You understand me? You are f*cking with forces that you cannot comprehend. | „ |
| ~ Danforth threatening Adam Clay. |
| “ | F*ck this. Bye mom... | „ |
| ~ Derek Danforth's last words, preparing to kill his own mother as a human shield. |
Derek Danforth is the main antagonist of the 2024 action thriller film The Beekeeper.
In his characterisation, Derek is the CEO of Danforth Enterprises as well as the son of President Jessica Danforth. He runs a national scamming operation through numerous subordinate shell companies. His scheme targets vulnerable individuals, especially the elderly, to launder money for his mother's presidential campaign and his own gain. This makes him the archenemy of Adam Clay, a former Beekeeper who seeks retribution after his beloved landlady and surrogate mother figure commits suicide following her victimization by Derek's company.
He was portrayed by Josh Hutcherson, who also played Bucky Weston in Kicking and Screaming, Steve Leonard in Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant and Billy in Burn.
Personality[]
| “ | For someone who has elevated f*cking up into an art form, this might well be your Mona Lisa. | „ |
| ~ Wallace Westwyld expressing his concern over the potential consequences of Derek Danforth's actions and choices resulting in Adam Clay's threats. |
| “ | Now don't you f*ck with me, young man! Any other life, you'd be in jail, for basically your whole wide entire life! | „ |
| ~ Wallace Westwyld admonishing Derek Danforth for his difficult behavior when the latter asks why his CIA software could not "filter out" people like Adam Clay and calling him out on how it was his decisions that have caused Adam Clay's rampage and not those of Wallace Westfyld. |
Derek Danforth is a self-serving sociopath who cares very little about those scammed of their savings, showing himself to have complete utter indifference to and a complete lack of empathy for their suffering, as well as holding little concern for his workers. He is shown to be a sleazy hedonist who as mentioned by Wallace, is known for getting into trouble once but too many times through his recklessness and has had a habit of live-streaming sex workers, demonstrating his perverted side, as well.
Furthermore, Derek not only shows a complete disregard for others' lives, yet also on top of that does he completely fails to see how any of the events leading to Adam Clay's rampage in reply to the death of his elderly neighbor who was one of Derek Danforth's scamming victims and committed suicide out of complete guilt and shame are a result of his own decisions and those of no one else - thus showing how he seriously fails to take up any responsibilities for his actions and his choices, as called out on by Wallace Westfyld himself.
He is also proven to be arrogant, having a massive sense of entitlement to his massively wealthy lifestyle and displaying a completely uncaring attitude about who dies or burns in the process of his efforts to maintain his family's wealth in the name of keeping his rich lifestyle. Eventually, he proves himself to be both lazy and a coward, to the point of relying on Wallace Westfyld to hire the best possible mercenaries to clean up his messes. And when in the presence of Adam Clay himself, he tries to use his mother as a human shield to try to and save himself.
Biography[]
Derek is a 28-year-old man who loves to live in luxury, frequently tended to with massage treatments, and hypnosis, and has even had a habit of skateboarding in the offices. His mother, Jessica Danforth was originally one of the founders of Danforth Enterprises alongside her late husband, before stepping down and becoming a presidential candidate. Derek, as CEO of Danforth Enterprises, feared the idea of his mother losing the election and the idea of losing his luxurious lifestyle, decided to use his vast power to his advantage by using the sub-companies/call centers for scam operations to scam the elderly and other vulnerable families. One of them was a retired schoolteacher named Eloise Parker, an elderly, kind-hearted woman who had been managing a charity fund until falling for a phishing scam that Derek's employees stole all of her funds, bankrupting her and prompting her to commit suicide in shame. Adam Clay, who was Eloise's barn tenant living a quiet life as a beekeeper until this, set out to put a stop to Derek's operations through brutal methods and avenge Eloise, who was the only person willing to take Adam in.
Having received a location for an address for one of the call centers under Derek's ownership, United Data Group. Adam goes to the call center before incapacitating a few guards working under Mickey Garnett, Derek's associate who runs said call center, whilst scaring the rest of the employees out of the building before destroying it in an explosion. Mickey called Derek, who ordered him to find Adam and kill him. Yet despite Mickey's efforts with some armed security workers alongside him, Adam kills them in a brutal confrontation, with Mickey's fingers getting cut off with a bandsaw. Then Adam drives a truck whilst holding Mickey hostage and having him call Derek, Mickey tells the latter that Adam is a beekeeper before Adam sends the truck off a completely open bridge to the waters below with Mickey, sending him to his death.
Then, even as a terrified Derek refuses to give his name and flips Adam off, the latter tells him that he will come after him. It was then Derek spoke to Wallace Westwyld, the former CIA Director whosoever had taken up the task of running Danforth Enterprises' security groups on behalf of Derek and Jessica, whosoever grows concerned and alarmed at what the consequences of his actions might be, whatsoever his actions may be, which have "disturbed a beekeeper", making it clear that unless they strategize calmly and carefully, then there may be nothing Wallace nor anyone else could do to stop Adam from killing Derek, even as Derek accuses him of being scared, though of course, Wallace says that he is and so should Derek himself. Yet Wallace still does make an effort, however though, to contact Janet Harward, who has followed in his predecessor's footsteps, to contact someone within The Beekeepers - a vast clandestine human intelligence organization formed to operate outside of any governmental command chain - whilst in the hopes of stopping Adam - a retired member of said organization - and Harward does so. When Adam killed Anisette, a Beekeeper sent to kill him, the organization itself has all its members declare neutrality.
Though Wallace sends a group of former special forces personnel to secure the Nine Star Building, which serves as the hub for Derek's call-center phishing scam operations as the FBI sends a SWAT Team to enter as well, the entitled Derek refuses to allow any of his employees to evacuate, which enables Adam to successfully defeat the FBI team and dispose of Wallace's ex-special forces group before brutally interrogating Rico Anzalone, the manager there, into disclosing Derek's name. As Adam alludes capture, Wallace advises Derek to stay with his mother under U.S. Secret Service protection.
At Jessica's beachside mansion, Wallace hired a group of mercenaries led by Lazarus, who lost a leg after killing another Beekeeper. They both admonish Derek for how his actions and choices set Adam off into his rampage in the first place, even as Derek questions how it could be his fault in the first place.
Soon Jessica has called Derek into the presidential office, where FBI Director Prigg questions Derek about the fraudulent practices detected in his family's companies. Derek then finds himself growing nervous and tries to avoid such questions. But when Jessica discovers that her presidential election campaign funds were completely guaranteed to help her win the election by Derek's actions, she became horrified and ashamed of her son for the extent of his unethically illicit activities. She tells her son that she will expose the truth of his actions to the world in the hopes that Adam will cease his vengeance, even if it comes at the expense of her presidential campaign.
However, Derek is unwilling to agree and ends up brandishing a handgun in a moment of panic. Prigg immediately attempts to intervene, only for Derek to shoot him dead in front of a horrified Jessica. Then seconds later Adam, having already subdued Wallace and killed Lazarus along with many mercenaries trying to stop him, blows the doorway into the presidential office and walks in to confront Derek at gunpoint. As this happens, Derek suddenly holds his mother at gunpoint just before an FBI team led by Eloise's daughter Verona Parker arrives to try and apprehend Adam while her partner: Matt Wiley tries to stop Derek. In that moment Adam tells Verona whether or not she works just alone for the law or for justice, whether in accordance with laws or rules be it the likes or otherwise altogether.
It is then Derek decides to execute his mother in the hopes of escaping. He tells her goodbye and prepares to shoot her when Adam ends up shooting Derek in the head, killing Derek in front of the latter's horrified mother. Adam then proceeds to escape by jumping through a window, leaving a saddened Jessica to cry out in devastation as she is led away despite the fact that Adam had just saved her. Verona decides not to shoot or arrest Adam out of understanding his motives, bidding him farewell for now as he had avenged her mother, as he escapes into sea and ocean waters with some scuba gear he hid on the nearby beaches.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- It is unknown when Derek Danforth was born exactly.