Lionsgate has dropped a trailer for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., the upcoming film based on Judy Blume’s iconic middle-grade novel.
Blume’s book, published in 1970, follows a sixth-grade student dealing with the challenges of adolescence. The novel, which has been the frequent target of challenges and bans, is one of America’s best-known books for young readers.
In the trailer, Margaret, played by Abby Ryder Fortson, prays to God, saying, “Please, just do this one thing for me. Just let me be normal and regular like everyone else. Just please, please, please, please, please, please, please.”
Other scenes in the trailer, which is set to George Harrison’s song “What Is Life,” feature Rachel McAdams as Margaret’s mother, Barbara; and Kathy Bates as Sylvia, Barbara’s mother-in-law.
Toward the end of the trailer, Margaret and a friend shop in a supermarket, nervously bringing a box of sanitary napkins to the front. “Please, God, let it be a lady,” Margaret says. The clerk turns out to be a young man, who fixes the girls with a dead-eyed stare.
The film adaptation, which Blume has said is “better than the book,” is written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, and also stars Benny Safdie, Elle Graham, and Mia Dillon. It’s set to premiere on April 28.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
