WRINKLE, WRINKLE LITTLE STAR
Movie’s central force? A geeky, math-savvy girl
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, mathsavvy 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.”