--- title: TIME 100: Ava DuVernay on Rihanna and Lupita TIme gala description: Ava DuVernay discussed the internet-fueled idea for her to direct a film starring Lupita Nyong'o and Rihanna at the TIME 100 gala. canonical: https://time.com/4755421/ava-duvernay-on-rihanna-lupita/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T04:18:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T08:55:43.000Z og:title: Ava DuVernay Discusses the Viral Lupita Nyong'o-Rihanna Movie Idea: 'Anything Is Possible' og:description: Ava DuVernay discussed the internet-fueled idea at the TIME 100 gala. og:url: https://time.com/4755421/ava-duvernay-on-rihanna-lupita/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ce6bb3c3ec84460/6988caa10a4a22e9189cde10/ava-time-100-gala-20172.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Landon Nordeman for TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ava DuVernay Discusses the Viral Lupita Nyong'o-Rihanna Movie Idea: 'Anything Is Possible' twitter:description: Ava DuVernay discussed the internet-fueled idea at the TIME 100 gala. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ce6bb3c3ec84460/6988caa10a4a22e9189cde10/ava-time-100-gala-20172.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ava DuVernay Discusses the Viral Lupita Nyong'o-Rihanna Movie Idea: 'Anything Is Possible'  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:55 AM UTCPublished: Apr 26, 2017 4:18 AM UTC  Ava DuVernay at the Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. Ava DuVernay at the Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City.Landon Nordeman for TIME  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:55 AM UTCPublished: Apr 26, 2017 4:18 AM UTC The [internet recently exploded with enthusiasm](http://time.com/4752456/rihanna-lupita-nyongo-movie/) for a movie concept starring Lupita Nyong’o and Rihanna that earned the approval of both stars and filmmaker Ava DuVernay. So when TIME ran into the _Wrinkle in Time_ director and [TIME 100 honoree DuVernay](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736186/ava-duvernay/) at the TIME 100 Gala, we couldn’t resist the chance to ask her to weigh in on Twitter’s viral wish. “Anything is possible! For me, I think it was just so lovely to be kind of overwhelmingly nominated as the director of this cool idea,” she said. But whether or not the prayer-answering movie ends up happening, DuVernay pointed out the grassroots campaign proves how hungry people are for this kind of art. “I really think it shows the power of people wanting to see stories that are women-centered, women of color-centered that are made by women of color. I think it was really interesting that after Rihanna and Lupita were in the picture and the story went viral, it wasn’t about who’s the male lead or who’s the sidekick, it was about who’s going to write it? Who’s going to direct it? I think that is really interesting about people’s interest in who’s creating and who’s telling the story and especially on Twitter where everyone is telling their own story. We’ll see what happens.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4755421/ava-duvernay-on-rihanna-lupita/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4755421/ava-duvernay-on-rihanna-lupita/"},"headline":"Ava DuVernay Discusses the Viral Lupita Nyong'o-Rihanna Movie Idea: 'Anything Is Possible'","datePublished":"2017-04-26T04:18:57.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T08:55:43.000Z","description":"Ava DuVernay discussed the internet-fueled idea at the TIME 100 gala.","url":"https://time.com/4755421/ava-duvernay-on-rihanna-lupita/","keywords":["Newsfeed","TIME 100","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ce6bb3c3ec84460/6988caa10a4a22e9189cde10/ava-time-100-gala-20172.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ce6bb3c3ec84460/6988caa10a4a22e9189cde10/ava-time-100-gala-20172.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","caption":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","creditText":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4755421/ava-duvernay-on-rihanna-lupita/","name":"Ava DuVernay Discusses the Viral Lupita Nyong'o-Rihanna Movie Idea: 'Anything Is Possible'"}}]}] ```