2023-12-23 13:00:00
This new film adaptation of The color purple» is not just a new version. For Oprah Winfrey, Halle Bailey, Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks and everyone involved in the film, filming was a healing process.
Fantasia Barrino in a scene from the feature film. PHOTO SUPPLIED BY WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.
In the 1985 feature film directed by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey played the role of Sophia, stepdaughter of Celie (played at the time by Whoopi Goldberg), a young woman who goes from a rapist father to an equally violent husband and whose fictional life constitutes the subject of The color purple. Today, she is producer, alongside Steven Spielberg, Chris Sanders and Quincy Jones, of this new The color purplea clever mix of Alice Walker’s novel and the musical presented on Broadway from 2005 to 2008, then in 2015.
“We use the expression ‘closing the loop’ very often, and for me, that is absolutely the case. This morning I sent Steven a photo from last night’s premiere and wrote, “I’m in awe of what God has done.” To remember that moment, in Baltimore, when I read the book for the first time, that moment when nothing allowed me to think that I might, one day, have a connection with Steven Spielberg and to find myself, 40 years following the release of her film on the purple carpet last night… I can only admire what God has done,” said Oprah Winfrey on December 7, during a press conference the day following the premiere of the feature film in Los Angeles.
Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, who produce “The Color Purple,” are photographed on December 6 at the world premiere of the film in Los Angeles. MEGA/WENN
Beyond Broadway
For director Blitz Bazawule, the return to Alice Walker’s novel was essential. “It’s the Holy Grail, I went back to the book I hadn’t read for a long time. This 14-year-old girl takes us back to this space in which she dreams and manages to escape from her situation. We who are here, we all come from very modest backgrounds and we must also have dreamed to find ourselves here,” he underlined.
Taraji P. Henson shines in “The Color Purple.” PHOTO SUPPLIED BY WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.
“I always look for the spiritual side of physical things because I believe that we are first and foremost spiritual beings having a human experience,” added Oprah Winfrey. The spiritual aspect of the Blitz story is what brought this project to life. To know that he was a little boy in Ghana who drew without imagining for a single moment that it would all lead him here is proof that nothing we do is wasted.”
Fantasia Barrino reprized, for the big screen, the role of Celie that she played in the musical.
Phylicia Pearl Mpasi in a scene from “The Color Purple.” PHOTO SUPPLIED BY WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.
“When Blitz told me that he was giving Celie a fantasy, that’s something we don’t have on Broadway. Broadway is fast, once the show starts it doesn’t stop and there’s no time. While on set, Blitz gave us time and I had a completely new experience with Celie.”
The actress, like almost all members of the team, had to overcome old traumas, which The color purple helped her do it.
Colman Domingo, who plays Mister, Celie’s abusive husband, explained that “filming wasn’t easy at all. This work touches us all, we have had to deal with a lot of trauma and we have all put something of ourselves into it. We have all fallen into this darkness.”
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.
“The dream and the journey are bigger than us. This is what we did in 2023, but who knows what will be done in 2053,” concluded Oprah Winfrey.
The color purple arrives in theaters across the province on December 25.
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