Alice Walker Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Fantasia Barrino is opening up about the challenges she faced following her win on American Idol.

Angelique Jackson In a competitive situation, Warner Bros. has landed “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule’s next project, which takes on the legendary Yasuke, an African warrior who became the first Black samurai.

Colman Domingo Colman Domingo is an Emmy winner, as well as Academy Award and Tony-nominated actor, playwright and director. Domingo and Gossett Jr. co-starred in 2023’s “The Color Purple,” one of the late Oscar winner’s final films. There is a moment that our wunderkind director Blitz Bazawule set up for the great Louis Gossett Jr.

Angelique Jackson The 55th annual NAACP Image Awards got underway on Monday with Victoria Monét and Chris Brown leading the list of early winners. The three-day virtual Image Awards show is hosted by Khloe Thomas. Night 1 featured presenters Bellah (Hulu’s “Queenie”), Da’Vinchi (Starz’s “BMF”), Danielle Jalade (Disney’s “Saturdays”), Gabrielle Nevaeh (Nickelodeon’s “That Girl Lay Lay”) and Vanessa Simmons (BET+ “Deadly Entanglement”) revealing winners in the recording and literary categories.

Warner Bros. PIctures’ The Color Purple will make its streaming debut on Max on February 16.

Ethan Shanfeld “The Color Purple” will make its streaming debut on Max on Feb. 16.

On this morning’s Crew Call, we talk with The Color Purple producers Oprah Winfrey and Scott Sanders on blazing a path for their Broadway musical to the big screen.

The sisterhood between Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks began on Broadway. That is, the sisterhood of the order of The Color Purple. Both women starred on stage in the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer-prize winning novel. Barrino spent 10 months in 2007 playing Celie, the poor country girl who survives an abusive step-father and husband and realizes her worth.

Director Steven Spielberg’s 1985 version of Alice Walker’s classic, “The Color Purple,” has always been heavily debated. Many knock it for being too tidy and toning down the lesbian love story at its heart. Others, though, consider it a classic and a film that has withstood the test of time a lot better than the movie it lost the Best Picture Oscar to, “Out of Africa.”

Hello and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast. I am Valerie Complex, an associate editor and film writer at Deadline.

Angelique Jackson SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “The Color Purple,” now playing in theaters. As “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule and his star-studded cast made their press rounds ahead of the musical movie’s Christmas Day release, they paid a special trip to visit “The View” and Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in the 1985 movie adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel. It’d been nearly 40 years since Goldberg played Celie, an abused and uneducated Southern Black woman whose journey to liberation is at the center of Walker’s tale. Bazawule and stars Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks and Taraji P.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Wonka,” a family-friendly look at how Willy Wonka broke into the confection game, topped the box office on Wednesday, adding $8 million to push the film past the $100 million mark domestically. The movie’s stateside gross stands at a delicious $102.5 million. “Wonka” is also performing well overseas — its global haul of more than $270 million is a strong result for Warner Bros.

The movie musical The Color Purple is now in theaters and it features an exciting cameo from a beloved star.

told Variety, about her starring role in the 2023 musical movie adaptation of the famous Alice Walker novel. It also got adapted into Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated 1985 film, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, a 2005 Broadway musical, and a 2015 revival.“The Little Mermaid” star Halle Bailey is also in the 2023 movie.

The movie musical The Color Purple is now in theaters and you’ll be running to listen to “I’m Here” over and over after you see the film!

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Director Blitz Bazawule had a clear vision of what he wanted Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) to represent in “The Color Purple.” She was a bold, sexy, beautiful and extraordinary woman, but she was also loving and nurturing to Celie (Fantasia Barrino) and Sophia (Danielle Brooks). “Those were her sisters and there was a bond there,” Tym Wallace, the film’s makeup and hair department artist explains.

Angelique Jackson Turning 30 is always a memorable moment, but “The Color Purple” actor Phylicia Pearl Mpasi rang in her third decade with a birthday serenade from Oprah Winfrey. Coincidentally, Mpasi’s birthday (November 16) fell on another special occasion: the first screening of the musical reimagining of “The Color Purple.” The atmosphere was charged with anticipation since this was the debut of the film before critics and press, but the mood backstage was particularly jovial since it was the first time the cast — Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Choreographer Fatima Robinson fused hip-hop, dance, African history, tap, jazz and even Jamaican moves as she crafted the musical numbers in “The Color Purple,” but there was one person in particular whose energy she wanted to capture: Beyoncé. Specifically, the energy of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance.” Director Blitz Bazawule blends Alice Walker’s text and the Broadway musical to reimagine the classic as a vibrant movie musical. “American Idol’s” Fantasia Barrino plays Celie, a woman who slowly finds her voice with Shug Avery’s (Taraji P.

The Color Purple often succeeds as a thoughtful fusion of two other adaptations of Alice Walker’s landmark novel that still confidently hums its own tune.In shakier moments, though, confidence gives way to nostalgia, when the film hammers home its reinterpretations of quotable scenes and dialogue from the Quincy Jones-produced, Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 adaptation with an insistence that borders on flashing “Hey, remember this?” in bold type onscreen.Creating and saying something new with such proven material, while also purposely coaxing audience sentiment for a beloved original, surely posed a formidable challenge for Bazawule and company. And having Jones, Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey — the big guns and big breakout from the 1985 film — onboard as producers must have eased and complicated the gig in unfathomable ways.Oprah and Jones also had a hand in the original Broadway musical adaptation, which has spun off its own lore and legacy, and adds another meta layer of pop-lit gloss to what this film aims to freshly reinterpret.The stage musical — with a book by Marsha Norman, and lyrics and music by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray — has amassed its own roster of breakout stars, including American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, who made her 2007 Broadway debut stepping into the lead role of Celie, and Orange Is the New Black‘s Danielle Brooks, Tony-nominated for playing Sofia opposite Cynthia Erivo in the 2015 Broadway revival.Barrino and Brooks reprise their respective roles here with a lived-in grace and fortitude that does freshly illuminate Walker’s moving narrative, the lifeblood that courses through every iteration.

Is Oprah Winfrey beefing with The View?! Depends on who you ask!

Fantasia Barrino, “The Little Mermaid” star Halle Berry and five-time Grammy winner H.E.R. to bring the belting in “The Color Purple,” the new movie musical adaption of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that opens in theaters on Christmas Day.But Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson also flexes some surprise vocal chops as blues singer Shug Avery.And Executive Music Producer Stephen Bray already envisioned the former “Empire” diva in the role when she came to see the “Color Purple” musical on Broadway in 2005.“We were sitting together, and at intermission I said, ‘You know, you’d make a great Shug Avery,’ ” Bray — who co-wrote the songs for both 2005’s original stage production and its 2015 revival — told The Post.

The Color Purple. This highly anticipated release promises to captivate audiences with its powerful storytelling, exceptional cast, and a vibrant celebration of the human spirit.The Color Purple started as an incredibly important book, and back in the ’80s, it was turned into an equally-as-meaningful movie. Then, years later, it found its way to Broadway as a musical.

Alice Walker started the phenomenon with her 1982 Pulitizer Prize winning book, and three years later Steven Spielberg turned it into a movie that won 11 Oscar nominations. In 2005 it took on new life as a Broadway musical, and in 2015 that musical got a Tony and Grammy winning revival.

In response to her Golden Globe nomination Monday for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in The Color Purple, Fantasia Barrino starts the conversation with gratitude as she swore, after playing Celie on Broadway in the musical adaptation, she would never play the character again. 

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule hesitated to take on the latest incarnation of Alice Walker’s sacred text. However, when he revisited the book, the first line (“Dear God, I’m 14 years old”) struck him as a way to navigate a familiar story and “keep expanding Celie’s imagination.” In the new musical movie adaptation, as Celie (Fantasia Barrino) is bathing Shug (Taraji P. Henson), an old record plays on a gramophone in the background.

It’s not often that a Hollywood premiere is met with continual cheers, gasps, tears and several rounds of applause during its screening, but that was Warner Bros.’ The Color Purple‘s force of nature at the David Geffen Academy Museum Theater Wednesday night.

Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino, and Danielle Brooks are stepping out to promote their highly-anticipated new movie musical.

Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, and Danielle Brooks are stepping out to promote their new musical movie!

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson, standout performers from Blitz Bazawule’s daring re-imagining of Alice Walker’s beloved novel “The Color Purple,” are vying for recognition in a fiercely competitive supporting actress race. Following three consecutive days of screenings in Los Angeles, the film has garnered enthusiastic applause from voters, critics and industry professionals, sparking burning questions about the potential award prospects for Brooks as the fiercely independent Sofia or Henson as the sultry blues singer Shug Avery.

As far as movies with history go, The Color Purple — about Celie, an abused teenage Black girl in the early 20th century — is as storied as they come. Based on Alice Walker’s seminal Pulitzer-winning 1982 book, it has been a 1985 Steven Spielberg pic, a Broadway musical in the mid-2000s and a Tony-winning revival play.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The resiliency of women against long odds and low expectations was the theme of the night on Thursday as Variety and Lifetime toasted four of the entertainment industry’s brightest stars at the annual Power of Women event. Fantasia Barrino, star of Warner Bros. upcoming remake of “The Color Purple,” dedicated her Power of Women kudo to Celie, the woefully mistreated character she plays in the film, as well as her own daughter.

Fantasia Barrino did when the original “Color Purple” star approached her in 2021 to play Celie, an abused and uneducated Southern Black woman at the turn of the 20th century, in a big-screen musical reimagining of the classic film and Alice Walker’s novel. Sixteen years ago, when she was in her early 20s, Barrino had played the role on Broadway, but it had been a traumatic rather than triumphant experience. “My life was in shambles,” Barrino, now 39, says, explaining how draining it was to portray Celie’s harrowing journey for eight shows a week.

1985 film “The Color Purple” was the “best $35,000 I ever made.” Speaking with Essence magazine, Winfrey, 69, revealed she “wanted nothing more in my life than to be in ‘The Color Purple'” when it was announced that Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book would hit the silver screen. “They were only offering $35,000 to be in this film,” Winfrey told the outlet for their cover story on the upcoming movie adaptation of the Broadway musical.

Oprah Winfrey is looking back at her role in The Color Purple.

Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul but before achieving all of that she starred in The Color Purple back in 1985. Her performance as Sofia in the Steven Spielberg-directed film went on to earn her a nomination at the Oscars.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The upcoming release of “The Color Purple” musical film marks a full circle moment for Oprah Winfrey, who is producing the new adaptation 38 years after playing Sofia in Steven Spielberg’s take on Alice Walker’s seminal novel. Oprah earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actress, and now “The Color Purple” musical could earn her another one as a producer if it lands a best picture nomination. Oprah produced the film along with Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones.