All photos by: Warwick Saint
Essence Magazine just debuted its February 2018 cover stars: Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey and Storm Reid, who brought an overload of Black girl magic to the upcoming Disney film, "A Wrinkle In Time."
The film, directed by DuVernay and starring Winfrey and Reid, is an adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1963 science fiction classic by the same name. In it, a young girl named Meg Murry (played by newcomer Reid) takes a journey through space and time to rescue her scientist father who went missing after working on a top-secret government mission.
By helming the film, DuVernay became the first African American woman to direct a $100 million film. However, for DuVernay, that's not the most important part.
"When I'm introduced as the first this, first that... it sounds like Charlie Brown’s mom to me," DuVernay told Essence. "It doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s not anything I earned. I don’t allow myself to take it in like it’s real. I’m trying to have all of us up in there and more. I don't want to be someplace by myself. I don’t want to be on a pedestal as the first this and that. That"s so wack; that is the old way of thinking."
In sharing her hopes for the film, DuVernay said: "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."
By the way, DuVernay's magical adaptation is already being deemed the "Wizard of Oz" of this generation. You can see for yourself on March 9 when the film releases nationwide.
Essence's February issue hits newsstands on Friday, January 19. Click here to read full cover story.