Oprah's Enlightment I Can Feel New Zealand's Energy

The screen queen’s Kiwi inspiration.

- Richard Aldhous

Oprah Winfrey is nothing if not enthusiastic. As the screen icon swishes into our interview room, she has the verve of a woman half her age.

Really, the 64-year-old Oscar winner and former talk-show queen could be forgiven for feeling a little jaded. She’s been promoting her new Disney movie A Wrinkle in Time for weeks on end, which could make even the most dedicated Hollywood A-lister a little crabby.

But not Oprah. She wildly gesticulates, hops off her chair, grimaces and grins as she raves about her love for New Zealand.

“The energy is incredible,” she enthuses of Wanaka, where she, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling shot the movie. “If you don’t feel it when you’re there, you’re not alive.”

However, Oprah initially wanted to visit as a tourist, not dreaming she’d be one of the stars in director Ava DuVernay’s film about a teenage girl who travels across dimensions to rescue her scientist father with the help of three celestial beings.