Taraji P. Henson is hitting back at all of the rumored drama surrounding The Color Purple.
14.01.2024 - 19:57 / deadline.com
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.
Winfrey, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 feature take of the Alice Walker novel, gives props to best friend Gayle King for the actual Broadway musical.
You can listen to our conversation below:
While Sanders, the producer on the original stage musical, was rehearsing during the early aughts, King went to see it, expecting the show to be a waste of time. King was ready to relay some bad news to Winfrey. However, that didn’t happen, and a $11M stage production reaped $103M on Broadway in its first 2005-08 run.
Winfrey says that King “ended up staying for the full rehearsal and then calling me, saying, ‘You’ve got to come see this!'”
Sanders says, “I remember going over to her, it was a workshop before we even got a theater in 2005, and Gail came and she said, ‘I have a lunch at one, how long is this?’ And I said, ‘Two hours.’ And she said, ‘Well, I’m not going to be able to stay for both acts.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s a shame because the ending is more uplifting than the beginning.’ And at the end of the first act, I went over to her and said, ‘I’m really sorry, you’re not gonna be able to stay. I’d love to have you back as my guest when we come to Broadway.’ And she had a tear coming down her face and she said, ‘I’ve canceled my lunch. I’m staying.'”
As Winfrey regaled at the Hollywood premiere for Color Purple, she had to ask Spielberg for the film rights, who held off on giving them. At one point, NBC wanted to do a live production, but Winfrey and Sanders passed on that.
We chat further about the doing about the dynamic creative alchemy that
Taraji P. Henson is hitting back at all of the rumored drama surrounding The Color Purple.
Michaela Zee The African American Film Critics Association has announced the winners of the 15th annual AAFCA Awards, which honors outstanding achievement in film. “American Fiction,” “The Color Purple” and “Origin” all scored multiple honors, with “American Fiction” and “The Color Purple” leading with four wins apiece.
Ava DuVernay’s time-hopping drama Origin, debut filmmaker Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, and Blitz Bazawule’s musical take on The Color Purple lead the winners at the 15th annual African American Film Critics Awards. Scroll down for the full list.
The stars of The Color Purple are here at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards!
After spending 30-plus years honing his craft for stage and screen, Colman Domingo is more than ready for his close-up. Considering the actor’s versatile resume, which includes memorable performances in Selma, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fear the Walking Dead, or his Emmy-winning role on Euphoria and a handful of Tony nominations, it’s bewildering that his recent portrayal of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, in Netflix’s Rustin, marks his first leading role and Golden Globe nomination. Also, this year, Domingo features in another highly acclaimed film, The Color Purple, where he plays the dastardly Mister.
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.”
Oprah Winfrey has already denied that she had a feud with Taraji P. Henson while working on The Color Purple and now we’re learning more about what happened on set.
Oprah Winfrey is clearing things up following a string of remarks made by The Color Purple star Taraji P. Henson.
Fantasia Barrino and Oprah Winfrey wear shades of purple at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday (January 7) in Beverly Hills, Calif.
during a live Q&A session on Friday with the film’s cast. According to the actress, they also were not given any food. “You corrected it for us,” Brooks told Winfrey, 69, who said she heard about the situation from Henson, 53.
Taraji P. Henson is opening up about her time filming The Color Purple and is criticizing that production had the cast drive themselves to the set.
Zoe Hewitt When you’re not a minority, role models are everywhere, particularly in mainstream movies. Heterosexual cis-gender people and their relationships are the basis for romcoms and featured in actioners. If you fall outside of that mainstream definition, it becomes harder to see yourself represented by the media in the embodiment of a fully-realized person who exists beyond tokenism and stereotype.
Hello and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast. I am Valerie Complex, an associate editor and film writer at Deadline.
Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson pose together on the red carpet at the 2024 Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards.
Nick Clement The way an actor approaches and prepares for a role can be different with each project, and in some instances, the material presents specific obstacles that make the experience even more personally fulfilling or transcendent. This is true for actors of any age but is especially notable for a trio of younger talent in this awards season. One of the year’s best performances arrived in last summer’s coming-of-age dramedy, “Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret,” from the now-15-year-old Abby Ryder Fortson.
Carrie Bernans was left critically injured after a hit-and-run in New York City.
Actress and stuntwoman Carrie Bernans was critically injured during an alleged hit and run in New York City at 1:30 AM Monday.
The Color Purple” in 2007 because of trauma from a sexual assault that resurfaced when she took on the role.“That was around the time that my life was so crazy, so it was almost like carrying my cross and Celie’s cross. I didn’t know how to come out of the character,” Barrino, 39, told People.Nevertheless, Barrino reprised her role as Celie — who was also a victim of sexual assault — in “The Color Purple” film, which was released last week.The songstress revealed that she almost didn’t accept the part when director Blitz Bazawule asked her to star in the film.
Fantasia Barrino is sharing how she really felt about playing the lead role of Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway.