Storm Reid is Going to Change the World | A Wrinkle In Time Interview

Storm Reid is sure of herself. That’s for certain. She breezes into our interview room with a wide smile and braids that extend down her back. They’re reminiscent of the two braids that my mother would often adorn my head with when I was about her age, except I thought I looked stupid. Storm doesn’t look stupid. She looks beautiful. She looks confident. She looks like she’s just saved the world. In a way she has. Because she’s the heroine in the new movie A Wrinkle In Time out in theaters March 9, and she’s ready to talk to us about it. 

She’s gracious beyond her years, and fields all of our questions with a fluidity that I’m quite jealous of. Being able to be this composed at 14 is a characteristic that I think is amazing. Not that it’s an anomaly, just that, well, 14 year olds aren’t all that focused on a 20 minute interview with 25 people firing questions at you. The fact that she also puts handles on the names of her co-stars – Miss Oprah, Miss Mindy, Miss Reese and Mr. Chris (who I’m 2 weeks younger than) makes my heart swell even more. 

What it means to be a heroine to girls who look like her

I want them to know they can have any opportunity they want, despite their big hair, big nose, their wearing of glasses or their skin tone. They can be anything, and for me to be able to represent that for them means a lot. At a time when the world is so dark and divided, being able to uplift and empower the girls that look like me is a good thing. 

What Oprah imparted into her as an actress

Miss Oprah told me not to waste energy on things I can’t change in life, when I could be using that energy on something positive. 

What it was like being her own worst enemy in the movie 

I learned that I’m enough. I’m worthy of being loved even with all of my faults and challenges. It’s something that my mom instilled in me as a child, but it really became my foundation while filming this movie. I embraced the light within me, and I feel that as Meg was growing on screen, I was growing as the teenager portraying her. 

How her little sister character in Sleight is familiar to her character in Wrinkle 

In Sleight, my older brother takes care of me, while I worry about him, and loves him deeply. In Wrinkle, I’m the glue that is holding my family together in a different way. My father is gone, I’m looking out for my little brother Charles Wallace, and still trying to keep my wits about me. I feel like bother characters are connected in some way because they both make everything better with their strength, innocence, love, and vulnerability. That’s what Tina in Sleight and Meg in Wrinkle in Time do. 

Where she would go if she could wrinkle time

I would love to go back as 14 year old Storm Reid to the Civil Rights Movement. I would want to take the knowledge that I have of the world now and see how I would cope with all of the events happening during that time. 

I love that we have young ladies like Storm leading the way for the next generation of actresses. I know that Hollywood gets a bad rap as of late, but if we can hold on to the hope and optimism of young ladies like Storm Reid, we’re on to something good. 

A Wrinkle In Time comes to theaters March 9