Chris Pine, the star of numerous box-office hits, including the Star Trek franchise reboot and Wonder Woman plays Mr. Alex Murry, in Walt Disney Pictures’ epic adventure A Wrinkle in Time based on author Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless classic.
Alex Murry, the beloved father to Meg (Storm Reid) and Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), is a theoretical physicist employed by NASA who, with the help of his wife, discovers tessering, a wrinkling of time and space. He mysteriously disappeared four years ago and, unbeknownst to his family, is being held prisoner on the planet Camazotz.
Producer Jim Whitaker worked with Pine on the nautical thriller The Finest Hours and had a feeling the role would appeal to the actor, and Pine was interested, as he felt the story was so relevant to today’s political climate.
“Director Ava DuVernay and I met for coffee and had this really great conversation about life,” Pine recalls. “I really dug Ava and dug her worldview and what she was striving to achieve with this project, and in the first 10 minutes I was like, ‘I’m in!’”
He continues, “My impression of Mr. Murry began to take shape in that very first conversation with Ava. We talked a lot about ego versus soul. The ego is very invested in being validated, but what does the soul need? As we were talking, I was like, ‘My God, this is exactly what this film is about.’ We’re talking about precisely who Mr. Murry is: He is defined by this great struggle between wanting to achieve great things and wanting to be grounded, being pulled between the two forces of the family and the self.”
“Mr. Murry is a kind of frenetic, obsessed, ambitious doctor who really wants to do the right thing for his family— and for mankind—which he believes is going out into the universe to find something that has never been found before,” says Whitaker. “He’s striving to find something that is bigger than himself, which becomes a complex dilemma for him because he doesn’t want to sacrifice his family in the process.”
“Chris has a wonderful ability to not be Chris Pine and just be the person he needs to be in the moment, and in this case it’s Meg’s father,” continues Whitaker. “It’s not a huge part, but it’s an important part because the audience has to have an emotional connection to the character and believe in the relationship he has with Meg, which drives the film emotionally.”
A Wrinkle in Time is an epic adventure that takes audiences across dimensions of time and space, examining the nature of darkness versus light, good versus evil 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.
The film stars two-time Academy Award® nominee Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which; Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy winner Reese Witherspoon as Mrs. Whatsit; Emmy nominee Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Who; Storm Reid as Meg Murry; Levi Miller as Calvin; Deric McCabe as Charles Wallace; Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Mrs. Murry; Michael Peña as Red; with two-time Emmy winner Zach Galifianakis as the Happy Medium and Emmy nominee Chris Pine as Mr. Murry.
In Philippine cinemas March 14, A Wrinkle in Time is distributed by The Walt Disney Company (Philippines). For more information, check out the film’s website and Mobile site at disney.com/wrinkleintime. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WrinkleinTime. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WrinkleinTime and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wrinkleintime/ and use the Hashtag: #WrinkleinTime
