A Wrinkle in Time’s Rowan Blanchard Opens Up About Teen Bullying
We met A LOT of people during Disney’s press day for “A Wrinkle in Time”. One of the cute cast members was Rowan Blanchard who plays Veronica Kiley, the bully in the film.
During our interview she spoke a bit about the the bullying and comparisons she felt while attending public school.
Rowan Blanchard “Veronica Kiley”; Photo: Louise Manning Bishop / MomStart.com
I think it’s just this horrible sort of competition is bred between girls, especially in those years that we’re talking about,” she said. “It is really reduced to your body and your appearance. And so, your entire worth is based in what clothes you’re wearing and if you have the cool backpack.”
She recalled how much time she invested in finding the right things that were cool for school.
“And looking back on that now, that doesn’t matter. But it feels like it matters so much in the moment,” Blanchard said. “All these things that are so stupid in retrospect but [in the moment] feel like the most important thing in the world.”
I was impressed with her maturity and candidness. While she spoke to us she rubbed her arms and said she was nervous because she had never met Oprah and she was so nervous. And she confessed she has to remind herself to be a warrior every day.
“It’s not something that is a very conscious thing where I feel totally empowered and fearless every day,” Blanchard admitted. “There are some areas that I feel more confident and then others. Going off on that panel with Oprah, Reese and Mindy, I felt like the odd one out. I will tell you guys the truth. But like, that’s a second where I have to be like, ‘I deserve to be here and like, I’m here, a part of something bigger than myself.'”
She said there are so many moments every day where she has to remind herself that she deserves to be in the room.
Disney
For more on our interview with Rowan Blanchard just search #WrinkleinTimeEvent on Twitter and you’ll see many more perspectives. And in case you are totally in the dark about A Wrinkle in Time, here’s a bit to get you up to speed:
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.]
