{"id":1235738115,"date":"2023-12-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1235738115"},"modified":"2023-12-13T13:16:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T21:16:05","slug":"color-purple-stars-interview-oprah-fantasia-taraji-henson-danielle-brooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-features\/color-purple-stars-interview-oprah-fantasia-taraji-henson-danielle-brooks-1235738115\/","title":{"rendered":"Oprah and ‘The Color Purple’ Stars on the New Musical Remake: “It’s Bright. It’s Vibrant. It’s Us”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tOf all the emotions that The Color Purple<\/em> evokes, joy is typically not among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAfter all, the movie based on Alice Walker\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel centers on a Black woman who suffers unspeakable sexual and physical abuse from the men in her life, sees her children taken away from her at birth, lives during the punishing times of a post-slavery South and is belittled by the outside world as unworthy of love. While her journey, told through her letters to God, eventually arrives at an intersection of peace and forgiveness, joy is something that seems fleeting for much of Celie\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe musical remake of the 1985 classic film, out Dec.\u202f25, doesn\u2019t change the narrative, but does filter it through a different lens \u2014 focusing on the moments that inspire Celie, the women in her life who lift her to that point and, more important, the healing that restores not only her humanity, but that of those around her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tReflecting on the story, the three female stars \u2014 Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson \u2014 speak in reverence of the original film and the book. Henson likens it to Shakespeare for the Black community, and Brooks says, \u201cI\u2019ve been describing it as our cinematic heirloom. And I just really truly feel that\u2019s what it is. It\u2019s the thing that you cherish the most that was passed on since 1985. You take care of it and you pass it on to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\tFantasia Barrino, Oprah Winfrey, Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks were photographed Dec. 3 at the Houdini Estate in Los Angeles. <\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed By Danielle Levitt<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tDespite that reverence, Henson can also see some of its flaws. \u201cThe first movie missed culturally. We don\u2019t wallow in the muck. We don\u2019t stay stuck in our traumas. We laugh, we sing, we go to church, we dance, we celebrate, we fight for joy, we find joy, we keep it. That\u2019s all we have,\u201d Henson tells THR<\/em> during a recent interview, with Barrino and Brooks sitting by her side. \u201cWe don\u2019t have power. We are continuously oppressed, kept under a thumb. So what else can we do but laugh and celebrate life? We have to, otherwise we would die. So as soon as you see the first frame, you\u2019re going to know that this movie is different. The coloring is different. It\u2019s light, it\u2019s bright, it\u2019s vibrant. It\u2019s us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cVibrant\u201d could also be used to describe the trio, whose strong bond was forged during filming nearly two years ago. They laugh, finish one another\u2019s sentences and even shed tears. The Color Purple<\/em> has served as a balm for the women, who have endured their own pain as Black actresses in a business where starring roles like this are still a rarity, and a struggle to attain. \u201cIt has been real with each other. I think that\u2019s been the beauty of all of this, we don\u2019t have to sugarcoat things with one another. We can have deep conversations about the hurt and pain we\u2019ve been through in this industry,\u201d Brooks says. \u201cMe and the sisterhood is real,\u201d adds Henson. \u201cEverything I do, I\u2019m doing so that I can pass the baton, because eventually the torch is being passed. I\u2019m not going to do this forever. But for you coming up behind me, I just want you to have an easier road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhen the SAG-AFTRA strike dragged past Halloween into November, Oprah Winfrey started to get nervous. As a producer of the big-budget remake, she fretted about the possibility that her stars \u2014 including Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey and Gabriella Wilson, better known as the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter H.E.R. \u2014 wouldn\u2019t be able to promote the film. \u201cOne of the reasons why I was praying, praying, praying that the strike would be over is because I so wanted this experience, the experience that I had with The Color Purple<\/em> in my life, to be shared by all of these women,\u201d Winfrey tells The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, before tearing up. \u201cI thought, \u2018If the strike doesn\u2019t end, they will never get to have that ride.\u2019 And there\u2019s nothing like that ride. There\u2019s nothing like being out in the world, being able to talk about it and to share the beautiful energy of everything that Alice wanted when she wrote that story. It\u2019s like every time we speak, we get to talk the ancestors up. And so there\u2019s not a person on this film who doesn\u2019t realize that the film is bigger than all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWinfrey talks about the divine in relation to her connection to The Color Purple<\/em> frequently, describing it as life-changing on multiple fronts. When the book was first released and she read its first words \u2014 about a young girl who is raped by her stepfather and gives birth to their children \u2014 it mirrored her own life, having had a stillborn child as the result of a rape as a teen. A local talk show host in Chicago at the time, she heard the movie was being made and was determined to play any role in the production, assuming it would be a non-acting one, but producer Quincy Jones saw her on local television and sought her out to audition for Sofia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks of the feature adaptation of the Broadway musical The Color Purple<\/em>, which Henson likens to Shakespeare for the Black community.<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed By Danielle Levitt<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tNot everyone was as enthusiastic as Jones. Winfrey recalls reaching out to casting director Reuben Cannon after auditioning, with him curtly telling her that he was the one who would be doing the calling \u2014 if she even got the job. \u201cHe said, \u2018You know who just left my office? Alfre Woodard. She\u2019s a real actress. You have no experience.\u2019 So I thought for sure I was not going to get it. And I went to this retreat to just regroup myself, to get over the fact that I wasn\u2019t going to get it,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cI felt like, \u2018God, why did you do this? Why did you let me get this close?\u2019 I was running around the track at this health retreat, which they called a fat farm at the time, and praying and crying and singing \u2018I Surrender All.\u2019 And the moment that I felt like I released it, a woman comes running out and says, \u2018There\u2019s a phone call for you.\u2019\u202f\u201d It was Cannon. \u201cHe said, \u2018Steven [Spielberg] wants to see you in his office tomorrow. I hear you\u2019re at a fat farm and if you lose a pound, you lose the part.\u2019 Wow. That\u2019s a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWinfrey\u2019s depiction of Sofia, her first onscreen acting role, not only led to her first Oscar nomination, but also set her up for the one-name icon status that she is certain would not have happened had she not gotten the role. She credits visiting Spielberg\u2019s Amblin Studios with giving her the realization that she could have her own studio, leading to the birth of Harpo Productions. Even controlling her own talk show came from her Color Purple<\/em> experience: Her bosses made her forfeit three years\u2019 vacation (yes, you read that right) in order to shoot the movie, and she vowed she would never be put in that position again, so she bought the rights to The Oprah Winfrey Show, <\/em>which ran for 29 media-landscape-changing seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe role also led to a decades-long connection to the material. Twenty years after the original movie, producer Scott Sanders devised a plan for a musical rendition for Broadway, which Winfrey was initially opposed to. She eventually became a believer, so much so that she ended up coming aboard as an executive producer of the Tony-winning production and its subsequent revival. But when Sanders suggested turning it into a film, that\u2019s where Winfrey drew the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cFor many years, I just thought, \u2018Leave it alone,\u2019\u202f\u201d she says. \u201cMaybe it was ego, that I just felt like we\u2019ve already done it, and I don\u2019t think you can do it any better and now it is actually a classic. How are you going to improve on that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThen the #MeToo movement happened. Suddenly, Winfrey could see a new reason to bring The Color Purple<\/em> to a new audience. \u201c[Sanders] started saying, \u2018Don\u2019t you feel that there\u2019s something with the energy of what\u2019s happening to women and this movement? Maybe it\u2019s time to go to Steven again,\u2019\u202f\u201d she recalls. \u201cSo I called up Steven and he said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\tSays producer Winfrey, \u201cThere\u2019s not a person on this film who doesn\u2019t realize it\u2019s bigger than all of us.\u201d All were photographed Dec.\u202f3 at the Houdini Estate in Los\u202fAngeles. Oprah Winfrey was styled by Annabelle Harron. (On Winfrey: Ralph Lauren Collection)<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed By Danielle Levitt<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tSpielberg, like Winfrey, had been opposed to a film adaptation of the musical adaptation of the original movie. But what Sanders was pitching, in his view, was so much more than a remake, or even what the musical had been \u2014 a version that, while hewing to the original story, reshapes its vision. \u201cObviously, Steven\u2019s film lives in the culture and is a classic. No one would ever want to remake his movie,\u201d Sanders says. But, with the help of screenwriter Marcus Gardley, a new vision emerged: What if the brutal abuse of Celie isn\u2019t the core focus of the film, and instead it explores Celie\u2019s imagination? An imagination that shows her hopes, dreams and her own agency?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThat new vision was led in part by director Blitz Bazawule, who made his feature debut with The Burial of Kojo<\/em> but perhaps is best known as the co-director of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s eye-popping Black Is King<\/em>, a fantastical, visually stunning retelling of The Lion King.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cThe biggest thing was, what can we say that hasn\u2019t been said yet? That was, for me, the hardest part. I went back to Alice Walker\u2019s book. This was on her first page, in the first line: \u2018Dear God.\u2019 That for me was, \u2018All right, that\u2019s the line.\u2019 Anyone who can write letters to God must have an imagination,\u201d Bazawule says. \u201cAnd that imaginative plane became the place in which we were going to justify our reason for being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s that vision that lured Barrino to the project, after initially telling Sanders no. \u201cWhen Blitz gave her an imagination, that for me was perfect,\u201d says Barrino, who received raves when she stepped into the role of Celie on Broadway nearly 15 years ago. The experience remains a dark time in Barrino\u2019s memory. The third-season American Idol<\/em> champ was a platinum-selling star but had never performed such a grueling schedule of eight shows a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tMore critical, however, was her emotional state. Barrino, who gave birth to her first child as a teen, had gone through her own trauma that in some ways mirrored Celie\u2019s. (I recall interviewing a subdued Barrino at the time, and she noted how the material was affecting her psyche: \u201cI\u2019m being told every day that I\u2019m ugly. You can\u2019t play the part if you don\u2019t put yourself in her shoes and live her life. So I carry that stuff with me.\u201d) Says Barrino today, \u201cI probably would have continued to say no if [Bazawule] did not give her an imagination, because even though Celie went through so many traumatic things at a young, young age, even though her sister Nettie seemed to get the better end of things and Celie was handed the worst, in her imagination, she shows how she made it through all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile others had played Celie on Broadway, including Cynthia Erivo, and still others lobbied for the role, for Bazawule, Barrino was the only choice. \u201cI was looking for someone who embodied the spirit and the soul of the character, and had the emotional depth to reach there. And also had a powerful voice,\u201d Bazawule says. \u201cIt was very clear that Fantasia had a well and depth of experience, personal and emotional, and the ability to reach into it. It was more or less finding a kindred spirit and somebody who had a deep well, somebody who was going to interrogate the character deeply. Nobody could have done it better than Fantasia, certainly not in this iteration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\tFantasia Barrino was styled by Daniel\u202fHawkins.<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed By Danielle Levitt<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tWinfrey felt the same about Brooks, who was Tony-nominated and earned a Grammy for her turn as Sofia in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple<\/em> in 2015. In a brilliant bit of viral movie marketing, Winfrey taped her call to Brooks \u2014 who burst into tears before the words could get out that she\u2019d nabbed the role \u2014 and put it on social media. \u201cDanielle, my God, I knew from day one,\u201d Winfrey says. \u201cI felt that one of the most fun moments was being able to call her, because I obviously had watched her on Broadway. There were other people, but she embodied it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s a character that had long taken up space in Brooks\u2019 spirit. As a girl growing up in the South, when she first watched Winfrey as Sofia, it was one of the first times she saw a version of herself onscreen: a woman who was dark-skinned, full-figured, opinionated, fierce and living life as fully as she could. \u201cIt changed my life, watching her live in her power,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBrooks would go on to make acting her first love, attend Juilliard, make a dynamic debut as Taystee on Orange Is the New Black<\/em>, and, in a divine full-circle moment, land the Sofia role on Broadway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYet when Brooks was told, despite all her Broadway accolades, that she\u2019d need to audition like everyone else, her first thought was straight out of Sofia\u2019s mouth: \u201cHell no.\u201d Then, after thinking about how badly she wanted it, she swallowed her pride and was determined to do everything she needed to do to get the part. She had long interviews with Bazawule and sent a taped audition in which she sang, followed by \u2026 months of silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tDiscouraged but not defeated, she asked James Gunn, her director on the Peacemaker<\/em> set, for his advice. \u201cHe was like, \u2018Yes, you should definitely shoot your shot.\u2019 I remember having this long conversation with him about faith and trust in the process. So I wrote a letter to say, \u2018Hey, I love this part, and even if I\u2019m not your Sofia, I wish this project well.\u2019 I didn\u2019t hear anything back, which was like, \u2018OK, that\u2019s part of trust in the process,\u2019\u202f\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tHenson also found herself having to audition for the role of Shug Avery, even though Bazawule wanted her for the part \u2014 a bitter pill for the Oscar-nominated actress to swallow. For Henson, it felt like not only a slight, but emblematic of her years-long struggle to even remain at the level she\u2019s attained. Despite her Oscar nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,<\/em> her Emmy nominations for her role of Cookie on the blockbuster series Empire<\/em> and her acclaimed turn in Hidden Figures<\/em>, Henson says she \u2014 along with other Black actresses \u2014 remains stuck on a rung when it comes to the prestige and money afforded by Hollywood to others in similar positions. She points out that besides Halle Berry\u2019s 2002 Oscar win for best actress in Monster\u2019s Ball <\/em>\u2014 Berry being the only Black woman to ever win the trophy \u2014 most Black women are nominated for supporting roles, even if they are leads. Henson\u2019s lack of an Oscar nomination as lead actress for her starring role in Hidden Figures<\/em> remains a particular sore point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve been getting paid and I\u2019ve been fighting tooth and nail every project to get that same freaking [fee] quote. And it\u2019s a slap in the face when people go, \u2018Oh girl, you work all the time. You always working.\u2019 Well, goddammit, I have to. It\u2019s not because I wish I could do two movies a year and that\u2019s that. I have to work because the math ain\u2019t mathing. And I have bills,\u201d she vents, with some tears. \u201cListen, I\u2019ve been doing this for two decades and sometimes I get tired of fighting because I know what I do is bigger than me. I know that the legacy I leave will affect somebody coming up behind me. My prayer is that I don\u2019t want these Black girls to have the same fights that me and Viola [Davis], Octavia [Spencer], we out here thugging it out,\u201d Henson says. \u201cOtherwise, why am I doing this? For my own vanity? There\u2019s no blessing in that. I\u2019ve tried twice to walk away [from the business]. But I can\u2019t, because if I do, how does that help the ones coming up behind me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u201cI\u2019m not going to do this forever,\u201d says Henson, \u201cbut for you coming up behind me, I just want you to have an easier road.\u201d Taraji P. Henson was styled by Wayman + Micah.<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed By Danielle Levitt<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tKeeping that in mind, Henson approached her audition with ferocity. \u201cWith [Bazawule\u2019s] coaching, I swallowed my ego and went in. I had the perfect dress on,\u201d says Henson, setting the scene. \u201cIt was very of the period. It was frilly and it moved a lot and had hardware on it, so it had a shine, it was very Shug Avery. I had this stole that I wore and put flowers in my hair and put my hair up with the red lips and everything. And I walked into the room and Blitz was like, \u2018Oh shit!\u2019\u202f\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBy the time the audition was over, she wasn\u2019t certain that she had the role, but she\u2019d given it all she had. \u201cI know whatever I did, I left it in that room. That\u2019s all you can do at the end of the day. And then I got a weird call from Tyler Perry, \u2018Are you answering your phone?\u2019 I said, \u2018What are you talking about?\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018Oprah\u2019s trying to call you.\u2019 So I\u2019m rehearsing how I\u2019m going to say hello. Do I say \u2018Miss Oprah\u2019? Do I go \u2018Oprah\u2019? And then she calls and she\u2019s like, \u2018It was unanimous.\u2019\u202f\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWinfrey stresses that her initial hesitation with Henson had nothing to do with her acting chops, but the demanding singing required: \u201cI mean, I loved Taraji and watched her on Empire<\/em> and all the things, but none of us knew Taraji could sing. And yes, she can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tDespite the iconic IP having resonated in three mediums, and Winfrey, Spielberg and Jones being behind the project, to some involved, it still had to endure the struggles of other Black productions, from fighting for the cast Bazawule wanted, to pushing to get more resources. Barrino mentions that there was a feeling of the cast wanting to overdeliver in support of their Black director: \u201cIt\u2019s an all-Black cast and it\u2019s a movie that is really deep. So for Blitz, we all would go hard even when we were tired, when we were upset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWinfrey acknowledges the pressure to ensure a hit: \u201cTo be completely honest about it, if you were doing this film for $30 or $40\u202fmillion, the interest in the cast would be very different. Once the film moved to $90 to $100\u202fmillion, then everybody wants us to bring Beyonc\u00e9,\u201d she says. \u201c\u2018Can you get Beyonc\u00e9 or can you get Rihanna?\u2019 So we\u2019re sitting in a room saying, \u2018Listen, we love Beyonc\u00e9. We love Rihanna, but there are other actors who can do this job.\u2019 I do remember conversations about, \u2018Y\u2019all, Beyonc\u00e9 is going to be busy this year.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t even a negotiation, because you\u2019re not getting Beyonc\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWinfrey\u2019s name may seem synonymous with unlimited resources, but she notes there were times when the producing trio had to go to Warners Bros. to request more money to get everything right. \u201cI would have to say that [Warner Bros. co-chairs] Pam [Abdy] and Mike De Luca really got it from the first time they saw the film, and understood that they heard me and heard Steven and heard the team when we said, \u2018This is the reason why this has to be done,\u2019\u202f\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to give us more money to do this because this is a cultural manifesto in a way for our community, and it deserves to have the support that\u2019s needed to make it what it needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThere was also an understanding about who would be needed to helm the project. Even before Bazawule was in the running, they knew whoever was in charge of the film would have to be a person of color, the lack of which was problematic for the original. Winfrey recalls that the NAACP first demanded to see the script, and when refused, publicly came out against the film over concerns of negative depictions of Black men, with significant upset over Spielberg being the one bringing the messaging to the world. \u201cAt the time, I was just mad at the NAACP, \u2018How dare you all try to spoil this moment for all of us who\u2019ve worked so hard, especially Alice Walker,\u2019\u202f\u201d says Winfrey. \u201cOur response was, \u2018This is one story. It\u2019s not the story of every Black man.\u2019 I was upset that they were doing it, but I would not let it affect any of my joy of the experience of being a part of it. There was nothing you could say to me about The Color Purple<\/em> because [of what] all that experience meant. It was life-altering, -enhancing, -expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tRebecca Walker, Alice Walker\u2019s daughter and a producer on this film, was a 15-year-old gofer on the first, and recalls the vitriol that came before and after the original\u2019s release, leading all the way to the movie\u2019s 11 Oscar nominations \u2014 and its complete shutout in wins. \u201cMy mother really suffered,\u201d says Walker. \u201cShe took all those criticisms very personally. She felt that she had done her best, not just by Celie and Shug, but by Mister and all the men in that book and all the men in her life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed By Danielle Levitt<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tAlice Walker recalls leaving for Bali to reset, and says she never regretted the choice of Spielberg as director. \u201cIt just never occurred to me. It seems really absurd to [call someone] racist when someone says, \u2018Oh, I\u2019d love this and I will do everything I can to make it something you love, too.\u2019\u202f\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tHad it not been for Spielberg, Winfrey believes, the film would never have been made. She says Spielberg knew the optics around his helming the feature. \u201cHe took the heat for that, and it was scary for him. He said, when Quincy asked him to do it, \u2018It should be a person of color.\u2019 And Quincy said, \u2018I\u2019m here and it\u2019s going to be you,\u2019 \u201d Winfrey recalls. \u201cI still think it is classic and extraordinary in terms of what Steven was able to do with that piece of work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhen he took on The Color Purple, <\/em>Spielberg was already an acclaimed blockbuster director. When Bazawule (also a musician who goes by the name Blitz the Ambassador) set out to direct the remake, he had directed only one feature, but Winfrey and Sanders were quickly convinced that the 40-year-old Ghanaian was the only choice at the helm. Sanders was worried that his lack of experience might impede a green light from Warner Bros. \u201cThese companies are mammoth and profit-driven and very often accused of not being friends of the creative process,\u201d the producer says. \u201cThe final pitch, the final interview for Blitz to get approved and hired, we had a Zoom, and it was Blitz, Oprah, [former Warner Bros. execs] Toby Emmerich, Courtenay Valenti and me. Toby Emmerich did something that was so remarkable, gracious and atypical for what most people think about Hollywood executives. He looked at Blitz at the very top of the Zoom and said, \u2018I know you think this is your final hurdle to get this job. But if Oprah and Steven and Scott and Quincy think you\u2019re the director, then you\u2019re the director. You\u2019ve got the job. Just tell me the movie you want to make.\u2019\u202f\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWorking with a screenplay by Gardley, Bazawule made the movie his own by infusing it with \u201cmagical realism,\u201d as Winfrey describes it. Going inside Celie\u2019s imagination includes dreamy moments with Shug (whose romantic relationship is more fleshed out than the chaste kiss in the original), and song-and-dance numbers in which Celie allows herself to dream of a place away from the brutal world that Mister has created for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThen there\u2019s the evolution of Mister, played by Domingo. In the original, with his villainous ways so expertly depicted by Danny Glover, the character\u2019s redemption doesn\u2019t come until near the end of the movie, as an old man finally having regrets about his conduct toward Celie. Like in the book and the musical version, this new Color Purple<\/em> invests much more in his redemption arc \u2014 a change Alice Walker appreciates deeply, and something that Bazawule and Gardley added to the film. \u201cI think it just felt really good to have a Black man directing \u2014 not just because he\u2019s a Black man, but because he\u2019s hugely talented \u2014 and also a Black young man to do the screenplay,\u201d says Walker, \u201cbecause I want people to see that we\u2019re all trying to evolve in our relationships with each other. I hope that this evolution and this sense is helpful to people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Blitz\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\tBlitz Bazawule directs Henson and Barrino on set. Says Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the original novel, \u201cI think it just felt really good to have a Black man directing \u2014 not just because he\u2019s a Black man but because he\u2019s hugely talented.\u201d<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tThere were other changes made to the new version. The violence against Celie is more inferred than shown, and the famous line Shug says to Celie when they first meet, \u201cYou sho\u2019 is ugly!\u201d is never uttered. \u201cIt didn\u2019t work in mine because the levels and the investment in the narrative around sisterhood \u2014 there\u2019s certain things you can\u2019t come back from. Celie and Shug Avery\u2019s relationship could not recover from that,\u201d says Bazawule. \u201cWithin the vessel of The Color Purple<\/em> lies an infinite world. And our job is to figure out what to harness for this audience. We were unafraid to go, \u2018OK that\u2019s not making it,\u2019 and to also go, \u2018That\u2019s needed, but it\u2019s not in here, we need to add that.\u2019 My hope and prayer is that it is of deep benefit to the audience today, that they can see a reflection of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWalker also hopes it will be the healing that she set out for the book to be when she first conceived it. \u201cYou know, you take it and then you take it like a medicine. And it doesn\u2019t kill you. It might possibly help you grow and turn into something magical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn spite of all the protests that enveloped the movie decades ago, it has now become a part of American culture, particularly Black culture: The meme-fication of key moments are a measure of that; one little girl who went viral on a recent TikTok, in which she played all the roles from a scene, won Winfrey\u2019s heart (and an invitation to the recent premiere).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIf recent screenings are any indication, anticipation for the remake is palpable. Still, Winfrey is aware that the film\u2019s success will be measured for future projects with a predominantly Black cast. It\u2019s why she\u2019s promoting the film so hard, and why her red carpet wardrobe has been transformed by the color purple at just about every public appearance. (This interview had Winfrey wearing the rare creamy silky suit, but later that night, as she was honored by the Academy Museum, she was all decked out in a purple glittery dress.) \u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re still there. That\u2019s why I\u2019m literally on the streets handing out tickets, OK?\u201d she says. \u201cWe are still in a place where the whole world doesn\u2019t understand that we are such a vital part of the world, and that our stories deserve the highest of priorities \u2014 that this is how you help to make people throughout the world connect and relate to our culture. So yeah, it\u2019s really important that this do well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThis story appears in the Dec. 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSet Design: Rob Strauss and Brian Crumley. Barrino: Hair: Derickus Crawford, Makeup: Timothy Clark. Winfrey: Cover: Ralph Lauren pants and top, Marli NY jewelry, Sarah Flint Shoes. Inside: Norma Kamali skirt, top and gloves, Manolo Bahnik shoes, Lele Sadoughi Earrings, Neil Lane ring. Hair: Nicole Mangrum, Makeup: Derrick Rutledge. Henson: Hair: Tym Wallace, Makeup: Saisha Beecham, Nails: Temeka Jackson. Brooks: Hair: Tish Celestine, Makeup: Rebekah Aladdin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all the emotions that The Color Purple evokes, joy is typically not among them. After all, the movie based on Alice Walker\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel centers on a Black woman who suffers unspeakable sexual and physical abuse from the men in her life, sees her children taken away from her at birth, lives during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223241,"featured_media":1235741229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":["nekesa-mumbi-moody-a-p"],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","categories":59,"subcategories":65853,"thr_post_headlines":"Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks and producer Oprah Winfrey unpack the \"cinematic heirloom,\" why they were never going to land Beyonce\u0301 and why so much is still riding on its success.","_variety-sub-heading":"","thr-review-summary-credits":"","thr-full-credit":"","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"","thr-review-running-time":"","_synopsis":"","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-review-type":"","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"mt_seo_title":"'The Color Purple' Stars Oprah, Fantasia, Taraji P. Henson Talk Movie Remake","mt_seo_description":"Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. 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