I attended the #WrinkleInTimeEvent on behalf of Disney and ABC in Los Angeles 2/24-2/27. This post is part of the required content series, all opinions and experiences are my own.
Photo Credit: Louise at MomStart
An exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling on their roles as the “Mrs.’s” in the new Disney film A Wrinkle In Time.
The moment I screamed all over social media was finally here, it was time to interview Oprah, Reese and Mindy for their roles in A Wrinkle in Time. To say I was a bit nervous about this interview is an understatement. I was nervous, I was extremely nervous. We were about to interview the Queen of interviews, Oprah herself, along with Reese and Mindy who are powerhouse women in their own right. The atmosphere was filled with tension before they entered the interview room and as each began to stagger in, cheers erupted. Bloggers stood from their seats! Oprah was IN the house.
Photo Credit: Louise at MomStart
Actually, I take that back. The cheers for Oprah began before she entered the room when we spotted her outside the doorway waiting for Reese. However, our cheers quickly ended her wait and she entered the room with Mindy sans Reese. Although she did make it clear we were not beginning the interview without Reese, it did give us a chance to chat with her a bit before the “offical” interview began. This was actually a perfect time for one of the bloggers in attendence to tell her story of being in the studio audience when Oprah famously gave away cars to everyone in the audience that day. “You got a car! And you got a car! And YOU got a car!” We know it well. As the blogger who received a car from Oprah finished her story, Oprah yells out… “AND YOU GOT A CAR!” Talk about a tension breaker with everyone cheering, clapping and laughing with her.
The laughs didn’t stop there as the first question was asked, Oprah replied right away with “I raised ya’ll!” Yes you did Oprah, yes you did. Here are more highlights from the interview that day:
Photo Credit: Louise at MomStart
On Inspiring The Next Generation Of Girls
Reese Witherspoon: I think it’s a great question. A part of what I loved about making the movie that I think is also in the movie, you really feel it is the power when women are together, and talking. We are not the only woman in a movie or the only woman in a board room or the only woman who’s a manager at her company. I think the power of that to young women to say, we’re not against each other. When we get together, we create abundance. That’s been a driving part of my career, the more I collaborate with women, the more we create for each other. So I think that’s a concept that we need to put into our little girls’ brains.
Photo Credit: Louise at MomStart
Mindy Kaling: I think just that the cast is so inclusive it is, I’ve never seen anything like that and I think that as a young woman I would have felt so much joy from watching it. And felt so much happiness from seeing that. As a dreamer I think was I wouldn’t have to dream quite so hard to picture myself on screen.
Oprah Winfrey: What I do know for sure is that everybody’s goal is whether they can articulate it as such or not, is to live a life that matters and a life that has meaning. And I think that my hand prints, my heart prints, all over the Oprah show for all those years is a magnificent purpose to have lived. But I also knew when we were doing this film that there would be young girls like your daughter who would come along and they would see the Mrs. and they would see me and they would say, what do you mean she had a talk show? So, the imprint, the heart print that you eventually will leave in this world will come from what is said in this movie. And so for your generation that I helped to raise, there will be generations to come that will be raised on this story.
Photo Credit: Disney Studios
On The Character and/or Scene Which Inspired Them
Reese: I know what my favorite was, when Storm looks up and she’s talking to her little brother who’s been possessed sort of by darkness and she says I deserve to be loved. I just lost it, I was like, we all deserve to be loved, and we all deserve to tell our stories and be the center, the lead of our own movie, the captain of our ship. And we do not see that enough, we don’t see ourselves enough and I think a movie like this with a company like Disney getting behind it says so much to to young people.
Mindy: I think you reminded me there are so many quotations in the movie, but one of them really in a quick part is when I say, Storm has fallen down and she’s she’s feeling hurt, she doesn’t want to stand up. And I say the wound is where the light enters, which is so profound.
Oprah: That one resonated so deeply with me because I’ve often said that, the wounds help you create wisdom for yourself. The wounds is where the light enters, when I heard that it it resonated deeply with me, because I feel that that is really true, that everything that happens to you that wounds you, that is crisis, is the open door for more light to actually come in. My favorite is a wind aside from wounds where the light enters.
My favorite is when Mrs. Which says to Storm, do you know how many millions and millions of events had to occur as they did in order for you to be exactly the way you are. I actually think that about my own life as a African American who came from, you know, slaves and that story that journey. I think about it for the life of everyone I meet, everybody on the planet, I just think of what it took to get you here.
Photo Credit: Louise at MomStart
On Female-centric Films Being A Trend In Hollywood
Oprah: Oh yes, in the Golden Globes speech I was saying a new day is on the horizon, it’s actually here and we are living it, this is it, we’re experiencing it, you’re seeing it up there on the screen. It’s happening!