It’s been a long time coming getting to see Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret brought to life. For decades, young readers would hope to see a story they were reflected in and after all this time, it really does feel like we were waiting for Abby Ryder Fortson to bring her to life. The beloved novel from Judy Blume is a time honored tradition for young teens to read and now the movie is a great look into what made the book such a classic among readers.
In the lead up to the film’s release, I was lucky enough to talk with the cast and creatives about the movie and what it meant to bring this story to audiences finally. And I asked Abby Ryder Fortson what inspiration she drew from because she is so incredibly good at the role. And when I pointed out that it feels like we were waiting for her to play Margaret, her co-star Rachel McAdams (who plays Margaret’s mother Barbara) clearly agreed.
“Honestly, I drew on a lot of my own experiences because I had gone through pretty much everything Margaret had from awkward bra buying experiences to all of the feelings that comes with growing up,” she said. “So I went through the script, I went through the book. I drew a lot from all different sides of Margaret, as she has written. And so I took down so many notes on my script. It is falling apart. It has pencil notes, pen notes, sticky notes, highlighter. The first four pages are completely falling out from being flipped through so many times I had to bobby pin them together. But yeah, I really based a lot of it off my own experiences because I relate so heavily to Margaret and everything that she’s gone through.”
You can see our full interview here:
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is in theaters now!
(Featured image: Lionsgate)
