Oprah Winfrey has promised “this ain’t your mother’s Color Purple” in announcing to Vanity Fair the cast for the musical movie based on the Broadway musical. That musical, which originally opened in 2005 before its 2015 Tony-winning revival, was based on Steven Spielberg’s 1985 movie, which was itself adapted from Alice Walker’s 1982 novel.
Fantasia Taylor will play the lead role of Celie in the upcoming movie adaptation—the same role she played on Broadway in 2007, and which was originally made famous in the 1985 movie by Whoopi Goldberg. Taraji P. Henson will play Shug Avery, the singer who Celie falls for, and who offers her some escape from the cruelty and abuse of her husband, Mister, who will be played by Colman Domingo. H.E.R. will play Squeak, second wife to Harpo (Corey Hawkins), Mister’s son. Danielle Brooks will play Sofia, who was originally played by Winfrey herself in 1985.
Winfrey told VF that The Color Purple had been “a vehicle for magic and purpose in my life. I don’t know anybody who’s ever been associated with it whose life didn’t get enhanced.”
Winfrey is producing the movie with Scott Sanders, who produced The Color Purple’s 2005 Broadway incarnation; Quincy Jones; and Spielberg. Sanders said the new movie would incorporate magical realism to take viewers deeper into Celie’s mind.
Read it at Vanity Fair
