Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of the childhood classic, A Wrinkle in Time, has found its lead in 13-year-old Storm Reid. The young actress previous starred in 12 Years A Slave and, per Deadline, will also headline Judy Greer’s directorial debut A Happening of Monumental Proportions alongside. Allison Janney, Common and Bradley Whitford.
Based on the sci-fi novel by Madeleine L’Engle, the story follows a young girl whose scientist father winds up missing after working on a mysterious government project called a tesseract. Now it’s up to the emotionally immature teen, her brother and a friend, to find him.
DuVernay isn’t much of a sci-fi fan (she hasn’t seen Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia) so she’s taking a different approach by hiring behind-the-scenes leaders who also aren’t heavily invested in the genre. She’s also made a step to round up a diverse cast which already includes Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon.
“I’m into the girl being at the center. I’m into what the worlds could look like as imagined by a person of color,” she told LA Mag, according to Jezebel. “I’m interested in the trio of witch characters—Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which—looking like women who would appeal to kids all over the world, not just like lovely old white ladies from New England. I want the little girl in Pakistan or the transgender kid to see the movie and see something in themselves. I asked the folks at Disney, ‘Are you down with that?’ And they were.” And so are we.
It’s too early for a release date but the screenplay is being written by Jennifer Lee who also penned Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, along with creating the story for Zootopia.
(via Jezebel, image via Screencap)
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