The Color Purple is heading back to the big screen. The 1985 original film, which was directed by Steven Speilberg, based on the iconic Alice Walker novel, and overlooked Whoopi Goldberg for an Oscar nomination, will be getting a remake in the form of a musical, which BTW, was adapted into a musical on Broadway in 2005 with Fantasia playing Goldberg’s iconic role.
Blitz Bazawule (Black Is King), and Oprah Winfrey, who played Sofia in the original film are on board as director and producer, respectively.
Fantasia will reprise her role as Celie, and rounding out the cast is Colman Domingo as Celie’s abusive husband, Mister, Danielle Brooks will play Sofia, Halle Bailey as Celie’s sister, Nettie, Corey Hawkins as Harpo, musician H.E.R. will play Squeak and Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery.
“This ain’t your mama’s ‘Color Purple,’” Winfrey said in Vanity Fair, describing the new take on Walker’s letter-driven novel about Celie — a poor, unloved Southern Black girl the early 1900s who endures childhood rape, a brutalizing marriage and other harrowing experiences over the book’s decadeslong span.
The movie musical begins shooting in Georgia next month and is slated to open in theaters on Dec. 20, 2023.
“It has been a vehicle for magic and purpose in my life,” Winfrey told the magazine. “I don’t know anybody who’s ever been associated with it whose life didn’t get enhanced. Everything comes from the original words of Alice Walker, which were grounded in love, really. Love of this community. Love of these people. Love of those characters. And that just gets passed on and passed on and passed on. I can’t wait to see this next evolvement, which is not attached to having done it the way we’ve always done it.”
I loved the novel, the Speilberg film, and unfortunately I never got the chance to see The Color Purple on Broadway.
I think it’s quite an interesting idea to make a big screen musical version of the film, but I hope the new film will tackle the difficult subject matter of the novel.
I also hope Fantasia will show up on time and on set, because I remember hearing stories that her Broadway attendance was poor. This was 17 years ago, so I’m sure now that Fantasia is older she’s aware that being the lead in a big screen musical is a huge responsibility.
Also, I’m sure Tasia’s aware that if Oprah is fronting the coins for this production that you don’t fuck over Miss Winfrey, one of the most powerful black women in entertainment.
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