'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret' trailer released

Jan. 12 (UPI) -- The first trailer for the movie based on Judy Blume's classic book Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret was released Thursday.

The 1970 book by Judy Blume is considered one of the most influential female coming-of-age novels of all time and is one of the precursors of the popular young adult book genre.

The film stars Rachel McAdams, Ant-Man's Abby Ryder Forston, Benny Safdie (Licorice Pizza) and Kathy Bates. Blume said she held onto the film rights for over 50 years because she was afraid an adaptation wouldn't properly reflect the story. But in 2018, producer James L. Brooks and The Edge of Seventeen writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig had the right pitch.

"When I sat down with her, she had just seen my first film, The Edge of Seventeen, and she expressed that that made her feel confident that I was going to embrace all the flaws and nuances," Craig told Entertainment Weekly. "That gave her confidence that the film would have the same honesty that she is so known for."

In the trailer, Forston, who plays sixth-grader Margaret, is shown sitting in a health class listening to a teacher explain menstruation. Then she's with her family, including her grandmother Sylvia (Bates) and mother Barbara (McAdams) as she tries to figure out the bewildering changes that puberty and adulthood will bring. The film is set in the '70s, the same period as the book.

"While certain details have changed over the years, the experience of growing up is really universal," Craig said. "It's the same across the decades. There's something about an 11-year-old or 12-year-old girl today, watching a girl in 1970 go through the exact same experience that she's going through today."

The film focuses on Margaret at age 11, "moving to a new town and beginning to contemplate everything about life, friendship, and adolescence."

The movie opens in theaters April 28.