Golden Globe-winning actress Taraji P. Henson and Grammy award-winning actress Danielle Brooks said they dealt with less-than-ideal working conditions while making The Color Purple—until Oprah intervened.
The actresses said they faced an uphill battle getting dressing rooms and security, among other amenities, during production. During a Q&A with The Color Purple cast on Friday, Brooks said she was stunned that the cast initially were made to share a dressing room.
“I remember when we first came in and we were doing rehearsal and they put us all in the same space and we didn’t have our own dressing rooms at the time,” she said, adding that they also were not given food.
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Oprah chimed in that she eventually heard about it and Brooks lauded her response: “You corrected it for us.”
“This is my first Studio film so sometimes you do come in just saying ‘Okay well I’m going to just take whatever they give me, I'm just happy to be here’ you know, but [Henson] spoke up for us and you showed me how to do that.”
Henson herself said she almost had to walk away from The Color Purple amid frustrations stemming from salary negotiations and working conditions.
“They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous. Now they robbing people,” Henson told The New York Times. “What do I look like, taking myself to work by myself in a rental car?”
“So I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?’ I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, ‘Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.’ Well, do it for everybody! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for. I was on the set of Empire fighting for trailers that wasn’t infested with bugs,” she continued.
Both actresses credited Oprah for stepping in to help but said things never should have gotten to that point.
