Ever since the success of Selma, Ava DuVernay has been an in-demand director. She’s been considered for a number of high profile jobs and it now appears she has said yes to at least one of them. It looks like DuVernay will be behind the camera for Disney’s new adaptation of the classic children’s book, A Wrinkle in Time.
It’s been a couple of years since Frozen writer/director Jennifer Lee was put to work on a screenplay for A Wrinkle in Time, an adaptation of the 1963 science fiction/fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It appears that the script is about ready to go and Disney has been courting Ava DuVernay to direct for months. Now, according to Deadline, she is officially on board.
Recently Ava DuVernay had reportedly been considering both A Wrinkle in Time as well as the Lupita Nyong'o-led Intelligent Life as her next project. Now it appears that both films may be moving forward, and it’s only a question of which one will happen first. DuVernay had also been recently rumored as a possibility to helm Black Panther for Disney’s Marvel Studios, but the two sides reportedly had different ideas about the movie’s direction and could not reach an agreement.
A Wrinkle in Time deals with a brother and sister who travel into the mysterious fifth dimension in an attempt to locate their missing father. It’s fairly strange book as it viewed as a novel for children or young adults, but deals as much with quantum physics as it does science fiction. It doesn't fit easily into any specific genre, which is likely why we have not seen a big screen adaptation before. If nothing else, the story lends itself to some pretty impressive visuals that could be amazing as a big budget Disney blockbuster.
This isn’t the first time that Disney has been involved in an adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. In 2003, the company was the American distributor for a Canadian TV movie based on the book. It wasn’t particularly good, which is probably why you don’t even remember that it happened. Let’s just say the production value wasn’t exactly at a Chronicles of Narnia level
Would you be excited for a proper adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time or do you think this is one of those stories that will never be done right? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
