Interview by Paul Salfen
For over fifty years, Judy Blume’s classic and groundbreaking novel Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. has impacted generations with its timeless coming of age story, insightful humor, and candid exploration of life’s biggest questions. In Lionsgate’s big-screen adaptation, 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is uprooted from her life in New York City for the suburbs of New Jersey, going through the messy and tumultuous throes of puberty with new friends in a new school. She relies on her mother, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), who is also struggling to adjust to life outside the big city, and her adoring grandmother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates), who isn’t happy they moved away and likes to remind them every chance she gets. The film also stars Benny Safdie (Licorice Pizza, Good Time) and is written for the screen and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen), based on the book by Judy Blume, and produced by Gracie Films’ Academy Award® winner James L. Brooks (Best Picture, 1983 – Terms of Endearment), alongside Julie Ansell, Richard Sakai, Kelly Fremon Craig, Judy Blume, Amy Lorraine Brooks, Aldric La’auli Porter, and executive produced by Jonathan McCoy.
About Abby Ryder Fortman:
- Began acting at age 4
- In 2015, was named one of the top 12 actors under the age of 12 by Entertainment Weekly
- Played Paul Rudd’s daughter in Marvel’s Ant-Man (2015)
- Famously portrayed Ella Novak in Transparent, Harper Weil in The Whispers and Sophie Pierson in Togetherness
