Ava DuVernay’s “A Wrinkle in Time” has found its young star. Storm Reid has landed the lead role of Meg Murry in the Disney adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic children’s book, The Hollywood Reporter writes.
As Women and Hollywood previously reported, DuVernay was aiming for an inclusive cast. For Meg and her younger brother, the casting called for a mixed-race girl and boy of African-American and Caucasian descent. For a third, teenage lead, they are looking for an ethnic minority as well.
The inclusivity of DuVernay’s project is already evident in the adults she’s chosen. Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling are in various stages of negotiations for the cast as well.
The story, THR details, centers on Meg “a young girl traumatized by the disappearance of her scientist father years before. She finds herself on an interplanetary journey with a schoolmate and her younger brother to find her father. They are aided by a trio of supernatural beings, Mrs. Whatsit (Witherspoon), Mrs. Who (Kaling), and Mrs. Which (Winfrey).”
Reid, who is 13, made her acting debut in “12 Years a Slave,” and played the lead in “American Girl: Lea to the Rescue.” More recently, she wrapped a role in Judy Greer’s directorial debut, “A Happening of Monumental Proportions.”