A Wrinkle in Time is starting to fill out the Murry family.
Young actress Storm Reid, who made her feature debut in 12 Years a Slave, has been cast as Meg Murry in Ava DuVernay”s adaptation of the beloved 1962 book by Madeleine L”Engle.
Photo by: Deidhra Fahey
The Hollywood Reporter first posted the casting news along with this intel:
In a nod to the diversity of the modern world, Disney has made L”Engle”s main characters black or mixed race, making the Murry family a mixed-race one. The studio is looking for a nonwhite actor to play the schoolmate, Calvin O”Keefe.
This approach is not surprising coming from DuVernay, who has refreshingly labored to get people of color both in front of and behind the camera in her work. The only bummer here is that THR”s mention of “the modern world” probably means that Disney”s film won”t take place in the 1960s. I”ve written before about how I”d like to see a Wrinkle in Time film that stays true to the Cold War era fears present in the book. But what we may need more than that now is 21st century-set film that”s able to give us a mixed race family reflecting the many families of modern America that wouldn”t have been accepted and, in many places, weren”t even legal in the 1960s.
There are still two casting postings online for the other two key child roles, listing Charles Wallace as African-American and Calvin as any of a number of ethnicities.
DuVernay has also found a diverse trio of actresses expected to take on the roles of the supernatural beings who help Meg and her brother on an interplanetary journey to save their missing father: Oprah Winfrey (as Mrs. Which), Mindy Kaling (Mrs. Who), and Reese Witherspoon (Mrs. Whatsit).
I”m pleased to see that DuVernay and co. didn”t feel the need to age up their lead actress (unlike the recent adaptation of Ender”s Game). The way Meg cares for and worries about her genius but outcast five-year-old brother Charles Wallace is so touching in the book, and it”s good to see that they”ve found a young actress to carry this film and that relationship. Reid should still be the right age for Meg if Disney decides to make A Wind in the Door (when Meg”s in high school) shortly after the Wrinkle movie. I”m holding onto hope that follow-up to Wrinkle does get a big screen adaptation, if only to see how they”ll tackle kything onscreen.