Gugu Mbatha on Following Your Dreams
I adore a beautiful passion story. That’s exactly what came through during our interview with Gugu Mbatha-Raw during Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time. I loved her in the movie “Belle” and I adored her part in Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time” as well.
I’ve usually got my emotions locked down pretty tight but maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones, or maybe it was just that good, but there’s a scene with Mbatha at the end of the film that has brought me to tears twice in a row.
During our interview we spoke about everything from the film to hobbies to fragrances, and big dreams.
She said something she loved about the film was all of the great lines about being yourself.
There were some pivotal moments in her childhood that made her realize she really wanted to follow her passions.
“My mom was a nurse,” Mbatha said. “She was a single parent. She worked full-time. She didn’t enjoy her job. I would see her come home from work really tired. And you know I remember thinking quite clearly when I was about 11, I was like ‘okay, I’m going to do a job that I love because I can see that this is wearing on my mom.”
She knew it was a sacrifice on her mom’s part for her, but it inspired her to follow her dreams. “If I get the chance I’m going to do what I love,” she decided. “So I made my hobby my job basically.”
Visionary director Ava DuVernay comes Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” an epic adventure based on Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless classic which takes audiences across dimensions of time and space, examining the nature of darkness versus light and, ultimately, the triumph of love. Through one girl’s transformative journey led by three celestial guides, we discover that strength comes from embracing one’s individuality and that the best way to triumph over fear is to travel by one’s own light.
Meg Murry is a typical middle school student struggling with issues of self-worth who just wants to fit in. The daughter of two world-renowned physicists, she is intelligent and uniquely gifted, as is Meg’s younger brother, Charles Wallace, but she has yet to realize it for herself. Complicating matters is the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Murry, which has left Meg devastated and her mother broken-hearted. Charles Wallace introduces Meg and her fellow classmate Calvin to three celestial beings (Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who) who have journeyed to Earth to help search for their father, and together they embark on their formidable quest. Traveling via a wrinkling of time and space known as tessering, they are transported to worlds beyond their imagination where they must confront a powerful evil force. To make it back home to Earth, Meg must face the darkness within herself in order to harness the strength necessary to defeat the darkness rapidly enveloping the Universe.
Directed by Oscar® nominee Ava DuVernay from a screenplay by Oscar winner Jennifer Lee based upon the beloved novel by Madeleine L’Engle, “A Wrinkle in Time” stars: two-time Academy Award® nominee
Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which, Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon as Mrs. Whatsit, Emmy® nominee Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Who, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Mrs. Murry, Michael Peňa as Red and introducing Storm Reid as Meg Murry, with two-time Emmy winner Zach Galifianakis as The Happy Medium and Emmy nominee Chris Pine as Mr. Murry.
“A Wrinkle in Time” opened nationwide on March 9, 2018. [You can read our Wrinkle in Time kid’s review here.]
Tags: disney, interview, wrinkle in time event