Storm Reid blows through Chicago, talks ‘Wrinkle in Time’ and Oprah
CHICAGO – What if Storm Reid, the 14-year-old star of Disney’s adaptation of “A Wrinkle in Time,” ran her own movie studio?
The question brings forth a rare “ummm .” from this actress, who blew through Chicago on Tuesday en route to New York City, doing press for Disney’s latest project. Directed by Ava DuVernay (“Selma”), the film opens Friday.
The pause lasts two seconds or so. Then: “Well, I guess I’d want my company to make REAL films, you know? Of course there’d be all different kinds, some animation, too. And we’d delve into different kinds of documentaries, and comedies, all that fun stuff. But I’d really want to tell stories that haven’t been told. The way ‘Hidden Figures’ did. Things like that. Real stories, representing a lot of different people. And I’d like to include a lot of different kinds of people within my company, as well as in our movies.”
Hollywood, meet your future.
Early reactions to “A Wrinkle in Time” on Twitter and other social media spigots have been mixed, but nobody has anything but praise for Reid. Her performance as Meg, the heroine of Madeleine L’Engle’s interstellar quest for a lost father and for a bright, troubled girl’s inner confidence, is unafraid of raw emotion or quiet simplicity. Reid came through accompanied by her mother, her tutor and a Disney rep. The following is an excerpt from our interview t the Ritz-Carlton downtown.
On DuVernay: “Oh, Miss Ava’s so great. She’s so hands-on with the creative process. . She let us add our creative input to the film, and put ourselves into the characters, which was great. She just makes everyone feel comfortable, and able to express themselves.”
On her co-stars: “I think Miss Ava’s casting had to do with talent, but also with how good everyone’s hearts were. Miss Oprah (Winfrey, who plays the supernaturally powerful Mrs. Which), Miss Reese (Witherspoon, Mrs. Whatsit) and Miss Mindy (Kaling, Mrs. Who) are all just amazing people. And I think everyone connected with Miss Ava, as people.”
On her feature film debut: Reid played Emily, a prospective “fancy girl” in director Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning “12 Years a Slave.” She was 9 at the time of filming. “He’s awesome,” she said of her director. “He made sure he communicated what he wanted; he was fun, but very focused, and to the point. Working on that really helped me learn as an actress. Technically it was a long time ago, because I’m 14 now. But it doesn’t feel that way.”
On her favorite film, “Matilda”: “I love that Matilda (the protagonist of Roald Dahl’s book, adapted to the screen in a 1996 Danny DeVito-directed movie) was so strong, so witty. And I love that she got her own library card when her parents didn’t want her to.”
On reading “A Wrinkle in Time” as a sixth-grader: “I loved Meg as a character, how peculiar she was – peculiar in the sense of me not really understanding her at first, I guess. But then you do understand her, and you see her growing up and doing things not a lot of 12-year-old girls are going through. She doesn’t realize how beautiful and great she is, but everybody else does. Everybody else sees it.”
On the movie’s contemporary and multiracial vision: “I love the changes. Miss Ava and Miss Jennifer Lee, the screenwriter, did an amazing job staying true to the book’s message. But I love that they modernized it, too. I’d say there are some really good differences and some really good similarities.”
On books she’d like to see on the screen: “I just finished ‘Heart Talk’ by Cleo Wade. I don’t know if that could be adapted into a movie; it’s a poetic book with a lot of affirmations. I finished it on the plane. But it’s great. Let’s see.I really loved ‘The Giver’ (Lois Lowry’s YA dystopian novel). I enjoyed the film version. But personally I liked the book more.”