It’s Me, Margaret.
Judy Blumeis a national treasure and April is the perfect time to celebrate her.
The beloved author of classics likeAre You There, God?
Author Judy Blume.Rachel Murray/Getty Images
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The documentaryForever Judy BlumeandAre You There, God?
It’s Me, Margaretare debuting within a week of each other.
Was there some intentional overlap in saying yes to these and the release pattern?
Author Judy Blume at a 2015 book signing for ‘In the Unlikely Event’ ‘.Aaron Davidson/Getty Images
Or did it just work out this way?
JUDY BLUME:It just worked out this way.
COVID did a job on us too.
Rachel McAdams and Abby Ryder Fortson in ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’.Dana Hawley/Lionsgate
We would’ve shotMargareta year earlier but for COVID.
Is it strange to be in this swirl of media attention again at the age of 85?
Well, I had sworn off it after my last book.
Judy Blume in ‘Judy Blume Forever’.Everett Collection
I did the book tour of a lifetime forIn the Unlikely Eventsix or seven years ago.
That was a huge book tour, took me to the U.K. and all around.
I said, “This is it.
Abby Ryder Fortson (right) stars as the titular character in ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.'.Lionsgate
This is my last one.
I’m retiring from this.
I’m never doing TV again.
I’m not doing any more interviews.”
And here I am.
Why haven’t there been more adaptations?
Has that been your choice?
Then, the agents changed.
So, here we are withMargaretand I’m so, so happy that we did it.
Well, what changed?What made this the right time?
It was definitely the right team for it.
That’s what it was more than the time.
you’ve got the option to’t get a better team thanKelly Fremon CraigandJames L. Brooksworking together.
Kelly came with credentials.
I don’t think anyone else had ever come to me with that kind of credential.
I had to show them.
Kelly had it wrong.
And she said, “But that’s the way I did it.”
And I realized, you know, “How did kids know?”
I don’t know.
But I showed them the way we did it.
Were there any other very specific things you were particular about or gave them guidance on?
I forget whatever one it was, but it was one of the regular ones.
And I freaked out.
Kelly was so sweet and adorable and wonderful, and she said, ‘Oh my God, I forgot.
But we’re going to get that.
It’s going to be in there.’
And they fixed it in post and now they buy their Teenage Softies.
You talk in the documentary a lot about how personal this writing was for you.
Oh my God, they are the dream cast.
It couldn’t get any better.
How much does she know about the adults in her life?
I love the kids, of course.
But I think the adults are wonderful, brilliant, and fabulous.
Something else that struck me is how much it pulls forward this thread of anti-Semitism with Margaret’s grandparents.
Was that something Kelly came to the table with at the beginning?
Do you see theMargaretfilm and the documentary as bookends in any sense?
I can understand how somebody might think that.
For me, it wasn’t like that.
One is something that came from my imagination and one is my life.
They did a terrific job.
Their gentleness with the kids who wanted to speak up, who are now adults.
That was very tough stuff.
And they handled it beautifully.
I’m overwhelmed in the way I was when I was getting all that mail.
How can I handle it?
How can I help?
There’s only so much I can do.
What can I do?
This is overwhelming too.
But emotionally, it is an overwhelming time for me.
Do you still write letters back to any fans that write?
Letters are different now.
It’s done electronically.
You don’t get the same depth of feeling.
If I get a really heartfelt letter, I do respond.
I could never write a short story.
[Laughs] I haven’t been any good at that.
No, I don’t.
For a long time, I thought about a mini biography.
My life from one to 12.
I thought about that because I wanted to write about all the relatives.
But now I have a real biographer who is writing a long book about my life and my work.
He’s very good.
But somehow I’m going to get that out into the world.
Absolutely.Summer Sistersis being developed by Universal.
And I’ve always wanted to seeSummer Sistersdone.
Throughout your career,you’ve dealt with the issue of banning books and been very outspoken about it.
It’s once again a hot-buttonissue.
What is the best way to combat book banning?
Never, never remain complacent.
I would have a go at join forces with one of them.
If it’s only a small check in the mail, that’s helpful.
The trouble today is it’s coming from government.
It’s not just a group.
And what can we do about that?
Well, we can vote them out.
That’s what we have to attempt to do.
They are people who want to control everything.
They want to erase history.
Don’t ask me why they’re that way.
It’s that total control that they would like to have over their children’s lives.
It’s absolute fear that if they don’t have this control, something bad is going to happen.
For you, did God ever answer?
I don’t think it was that kind of situation.
It wasn’t me saying, “What do I do now?”
It was more asking for help in keeping my father safe and well while I was separated from him.
What is one thing you wish every girl knew?
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