Feature Film
A Wrinkle in Time
2018
Filmed In
Otago · Canterbury
Towns & Areas
Hunter Valley Station, near Lake Hāwea · Lake Pukaki and Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park
The Story
A vibrant, visually dazzling Disney fantasy epic based on Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel. A young girl, her brother, and her friend are guided by three celestial beings on a cosmic journey across time and space to rescue her missing father.
The Stars
Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling. This ensemble carries the film's blend of grounded family drama and cosmic-scale wonder across its New Zealand-shot sequences.
Behind the Lens
Ava DuVernay. DuVernay came to the project from acclaimed drama work, marking a significant tonal shift into large-scale family fantasy.
Why NZ?
When the characters travel to the utopian planet of Uriel, the filmmakers needed landscapes that looked heavenly. They chose the Southern Alps, filming around the dramatic mountain vistas of Lake Hāwea, the Hunter Valley, and the golden tussock plains of Central Otago. Few places on Earth offer that particular combination of scale, colour, and light in one drivable stretch of road. Few productions get to treat an entire alpine region as a single otherworldly set piece.
On Set
Storm Reid has called her time filming in New Zealand "the best six months of her life." Oprah Winfrey, joining the cast, reportedly told the young star she was there simply "to go hang out with you." Director Ava DuVernay scouted several of the film's locations from a helicopter.
Legacy
Based on Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel, director Ava DuVernay became the first woman of colour to direct a live-action film with a budget over $100 million.
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