We found out back in February that she’d be helming the movie, and have since learned that Oprah Winfrey will also be starring. DuVernay’s trajectory – going from small indies to a blockbuster in five years – is common for men, such as Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow (who thinks women aren’t directing these films because they “are not interested”) and Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards, but still all too rare for women, who are forced to prove themselves over and over again in order to get noticed. After Selma, filmmaker Ava DuVernay became mighty high in demand, fielding interest from a variety of projects as wide-ranging as Marvel’s Black Panther to an original sci-fi tale from the mind of Colin Trevorrow. According to a report from Deadline, her feature film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time has secured one heck of a hefty budget. Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow was the first with her 2002 film, K-19 the Widowmaker. Variety reported that the film received the largest tax credit among the other 28 eligible applicants. With DuVernay, that makes three in total, and yet increasingly $100 million plus studio films are becoming the norm. Her feature debut, 2011’s “I Will Follow”, was made for $50,000 and her 2012 follow-up, “Middle Of Nowhere”, had a budget of $200,000. Her second film, Middle of Nowhere, cost $500,000.
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“Our work is dedicated to the amplification of independent films by people of colour and women filmmakers globally”, the company’s website says. The film, about mass incarceration in the United States, is named for the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery in the nation.
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When Women and Hollywood blogger Melissa Silverstein mentioned the milestone on Twitter, DuVernay replied with a quote from Portugese poet Fernando Pessoa: “Stones in the road?”
