The great Judy Blume is notoriously protective over her vast literary catalogue, permitting only a handful of screen adaptations of her work. So how did Mara Brock Akil—the veteran showrunner behind Girlfriends and The Game—earn the author’s blessing not only to adapt her beloved coming-of-age novel Forever… but modernize it into a story about two Black teenagers in 2018? Savannah Walsh digs into that in her wide-ranging conversation with Akil, who knows that young romance may be the most universal experience of all. “Yearning lives on in us, even as we get older and date,” she says. “But to fall in love for the first time? That’s a high we keep chasing for the rest of our lives.”
Elsewhere in HWD, we rank our favorite actors who have played the pope, as the conclave to find Francis’s successor begins; Kase Wickman chats with Walton Goggins about his memorable Met Gala look; Genevieve O’Reilly opens up to David Canfield about her long road to Mon Mothma’s big Andor speech; and Chris Murphy enjoys a night of low-stakes gambling with the cast of Poker Face season two. |
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%20(1)%20(1).jpeg "Image may contain: Mara Brock Akil, Jealisse Andrea Tovar Velásquez, Accessories, Jewelry, Ring, Head, Person, Face, Happy, Smile, and Adult")
