After chronicling history with Selma, Ava DuVernay is making it with her next project. Because with Disney's adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time, DuVernay has become the first woman of colour to direct a live-action movie with a budget of more than $100 million.
It's a remarkable milestone to cross, and for now, she's the only one. Women have directed films with big budgets in the past, including the likes of Kathryn Bigelow, and more recently Wonder Woman's Patty Jenkins. And animation has seen the likes of the Kung Fu Panda movies' Jennifer Yuh Nelson, but DuVernay is the only African American woman to do so in live-action. Yet, at least.
She celebrated the news with a tweet about the journey so far...
Frozen's Jennifer Lee (who co-directed the Disney animation and will follow that with the sequel), has written the script, which draws on Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 tome. The story follows the Murry family; especially teenager Meg and her genius 5-year-old brother Charles Wallace, and Meg's classmate Calvin O'Keefe. Their scientist father has gone missing, but after the visit of a mysterious old lady called Mrs. Whatsit, they learn that their father's research may have been more successful than they guessed and that he may have travelled in space and time. The kids end up following his footsteps to a planet called Camazotz, ruled by a giant evil brain called The Black Thing.
Oprah Winfrey is so far the only confirmed cast member, having joined the film to play Mrs. Which. A Wrinkle In Time is set for a July 28, 2017 release in the States, but hasn't yet confirmed a UK date.