‘A Wrinkle in Time’ trio covers ESSENCE

Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey and Storm Reid celebrate Black girl magic.

Essence, thegrio.com
February 2018 cover of Essence magazine

Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey and Storm Reid are on the cover of Essence’s February issue celebrating their new film, A Wrinkle in Time.

The film, based on Madeleine L’Engle’s novel, is one of the year’s most anticipated releases and already has people talking about its amazing effects. And in the cover story, the film’s stars spoke about the effect that it might have on children today.

“I just watched The Wizard of Oz again last year with one of my godchildren who was seeing it for the first time, and the magic of that is exactly what Wrinkle is going to be for another generation,” Winfrey said.

Newcomer Reid also expressed her excitement, especially over the number of big name stars in the movie.

“This is a huge milestone in my career, to be in a movie with Ava DuVernay directing and Miss Oprah being in it,” Reid said. “When I think about it, I don’t really know how to feel. There are so many emotions. But it’s just a great blessing that will forever change my life.”

A film celebrating Black women

Ava DuVernay is making history directing this film, which at $100 million has the largest budget ever given to a woman of color. However, DuVernay told Essence that she is less interested in making history and more interested in making something for Black girls to be proud of.

“I so want Black women to love it and Black girls to love it. I want everybody to love it, but this is a love letter to us,” DuVernay said. “This is me trying to make us in a way we haven’t been rendered in film before—as a firmly centered hero in a fantasy about other worlds and as the saviors of the whole universe. Looking at everything we think we’re not, and at the end of the movie we are all of everything.”

Several of the film’s stars were also recently on the cover of Time magazine.

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