The Wrinkle Universe

Few wrinkles in saga brought to screen at perfect moment

A Wrinkle in Time is the first major release since the 2018 Academy Awards called for more inclusion in the movies and it certainly echoes that theme. The multi-ethnic female-led cast includes Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling as a trio of guardian angels and Storm Reid as Meg, the main character from the 1962 novel by Madeleine L’Engle. Director Ava DuVernay is a woman of colour and an Oscar nominee from a year ago for her documentary 13th. The film is a sensory feast, not least when the characters travel to a planet called Uriel, which looks like Pandora with better landscaping. Meg is trying to find her father (Chris Pine), a NASA scientist who disappeared four years earlier while trying to figure out a way to travel to the stars without a spaceship. He wanted to figure out the universe, to “find its origin and shake its hand, ” which makes for a lovely image of peaceable exploration. Meg is accompanied in her quest by her six-year-old adopted brother, Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and by Calvin (Levi Miller), a neighbourhood kid who just kind of shows up and tags along. (Don ’t blame screenwriter Jennifer Lee: That’ s pretty much how it happens in the book, too.) The kids get some much-needed assistance from the aforementioned angelic trio, who are brimming with warmth, wisdom and glittery lip gloss, and who answer to Mrs. Which, Who and Whatsit. What I wouldn ’t give to see Abbott and Costello show up. Much has been made of Disney giving the reins of a $100-million project to a female director. I could find only two other Disney liveaction movies this decade directed by women, the much smaller budgeted Queen of Katwe (Mira Nair) and McFarland, USA (Niki Caro). But the result here is still very much in the Disney mould: You can feel the guiding hand of the director, but the even heavier hand of the studio over her, shaping the final vision. None of which makes A Wrinkle in Time a bad movie, though it is an oddly pedestrian one, given its interstellar locations. Pitched to a young audience, it may leave adults feeling talked down to, particularly when Winfrey ’ s character delivers a Yoda-esque rant about an impersonal evil entity, called simply IT, and accompanied by some clunky anti-bodyshaming images that bring the whole thing dangerously close to after-school-special territory. But there are far worse sins a movie can commit than being too earnest. Meg starts the film awkward, shy and bullied at school, only gradually coming to realize that she possesses real power, and that our talents are not great in themselves — it’ s what we do with them that defines us. Kids should get the most out of all this. The danger of IT feels palpable without ever getting gory, and there are moments that are more thrill ride than terrifying, as when Meg and Calvin travel in a tree stump that’ s been uprooted by a tornado — or to use the movie term, by Ozmosis. Kaling ’ s character, Mrs. Who, gets some of the film ’ s best lines by stealing those of others — she speaks mostly in famous quotations, ending each with a credit to the writer, including 13th-century Muslim poet Rumi, Churchill, Shakespeare and, to show she ’ s up to date, rappers OutKast and Hamilton ’ s Lin Manuel Miranda. Movies in the #MeToo era are seldom about mere entertainment, and A Wrinkle in Time passes what I’ m going to call the Frances McDormand test — strong female characters in front of the camera, and a good representation behind it, including the writer, director, producer Catherine Hand and production designer Naomi Shohan. But audiences do want to be entertained, and Wrinkle delivers. It won ’t transport every viewer to its glorious place, but its message to little girls and boys comes through loud and clear. Storm Reid is the quintessence of calm in the eye of the — well, you know. The young U.S. actress isn ’t asking herself very many questions as she fields a barrage of them from the press. As the star of Ava DuVernay ’ s Walt Disney Pictures-produced new mega-budget children ’ s adventure A Wrinkle in Time, the young actress is about to go from relative unknown to household name. And she ’ s OK with that. “It’ s really fun, ” Reid said, of all the promotional work that comes with her impending stardom. “I don ’t really think about the attention. I could care less about it. It’ s nice but it comes with what I really want to do. ” Reid has known she wanted to act since the age of three, growing up as the youngest of four children in Atlanta, Ga. “It was solely my idea, ” she said. “It wasn ’t (a thing in) my house, or my mom ’ s idea. I really think of it as fate, or destiny. I don ’t think a lot of three-year-olds are telling people what they want to do with their lives. It was meant to be, and I’ m glad God gave me the talent to do so and to share it with the people around me. ” If she sounds remarkably poised for 14, Reid seems doubly so in light of her performance as A Wrinkle in Time ’ s geeky, math-savvy protagonist, Meg Murry, who must overcome her insecurities as she travels the galaxy, brother and potential boyfriend in tow, to save her father from the forces of darkness. Rounding out Meg ’ s crew is a trio of celestial well-wishers, played by Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. Reid read Madeleine L’Engle ’ s 1962 novel in Grade 6, before there was any talk of starring in the film, earning an A on her book report. That was three long years ago. “I loved the journey and the story, ” she said. “I just loved that Meg was so peculiar and confusing, and that she didn ’t realize how great she was, even though everyone else did, and that it took her a trip around the universe to figure it out.

As calm and collected as she appears in interview, Reid admits to being overwhelmed during her initial meeting with DuVernay. “I was very intimidated and really nervous, ” she said. “It was so nice meeting her and spending a couple of days with her in the audition process, just being myself. I didn ’t think I was going to get the part. I thought I would do my best and hopefully Miss Ava would consider me for something in the future. ” When she was told she had landed the part, Reid couldn ’t believe it. “I was so shocked, ” she said. “It’ s such a blessing. I get emotional talking about it. When I got the call from Miss Ava, I started crying. ” Reid’ s southern manners only add to her charm. She refers to her elder fellow cast members with Mr. and Miss prefixes, beginning with Winfrey, who never fails to leave an impression. “Miss Oprah was so much fun, ” Reid said. “She ’ s so amazing, and so talented. She doesn ’t act like Oprah. She just acts like a regular woman who loves what she does. She ’ s so grounded, helpful and gracious. I was so glad to share the screen with her, learn from her and take her advice. ” And what was the most memorable pointer she received from the former queen of daytime television, who brings serenity and a touch of divinity to her role as the seemingly all-powerful Mrs. Which? “She said, ‘Don ’t waste energy on things I can ’t change ’ ; and to use it on positive things, to gravitate to something I can do something about, ” Reid said. “That’ s become my life motto. ” That mantra could double as the take-home lesson Meg learns in A Wrinkle in Time. And while she ’ s nowhere near as self-conscious and awkward as her character, Reid connected to Meg ’ s internal transformation. “It was challenging, ” she said, of playing someone ill at ease in her own skin. “I am very open-spirited and very happy, so it was a challenge to go through some of the experiences Meg went through. I basically had to step into her shoes, put myself in her situation and think about how I would act. ” With A Wrinkle in Time, there will now be legions of girls stepping into Reid’ s shoes. One of the triumphs of DuVernay ’ s vision of the story is in placing a young woman of colour in the lead role. Reid has been around Miss Ava and Miss Oprah long enough to glean what that means, and to realize what her presence in the film represents in Hollywood. “It’ s such a blessing, ” she said. “I feel so grateful to play a female protagonist, in this film, who is African-American. It feels like representation matters. All people should be represented, in a good way. I feel like this film does that for girls who look like me, and just girls who are going through tough times. “I’ m glad to be able to break barriers and to represent inclusion and diversity. I just want it all to be normal.

From Left: Reese Witherspoon as Mrs. Whatsit Below: Oprah Winfrey plays Mrs. Which