Ray Richmond: Oprah discusses taking her ‘The Color Purple’ journey full circle following Thursday night world premiere
They held a world premiere screening of the new film adaptation of the stage musical of “The Color Purple” Thursday night at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the kind of electric event that makes you feel special to have been invited. There wasn’t an empty seat in the cavernous theater, and there wasn’t an unmoved attendee by the end. Those who were suspecting that the film was being held back from previews because Warner Bros. and the filmmakers had something to hide were proven wrong, as it was rousing, superbly acted, powerfully directed, masterfully choreographed and all-around terrific.
The relatively late mid-November rollout for critics and the industry of a movie with a wide Christmas Day release was explained on Thursday as a case of wanting to be sure the entire cast could be present on a panel for the early sampling, which was impossible until the recent settling of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Too, it seemed the final cut was still having some finishing touches put on. But to those seeing the film at this first look, it appeared to be a case of perfect timing. And it didn’t seem anyone was suffering negative deja-vu over the reimagining of a film originally released 38 years ago.
That first feature adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel from Alice Walker received 11 Academy Award nominations – and famously won zero. Here is one early assessment of this new “Color Purple’s” chances: that ain’t going to happen again. It’s difficult to imagine that none of the extraordinary performances will be honored with an actual Oscar, with Fantasia Barrino (the former “American Idol” victor in her first film role, as the adult Celie), Danielle Brooks (Sofie), Taraji P. Henson (Shug Avery) and Colman Domingo (Albert “Mister” Johnson) all looking like solid nomination choices at the very least.
Following the screening on Thursday night – which was met with a standing ovation – the panel was reflective, emotional (many tears) and large: a whopping 11 members of the cast and production team. They included producers Oprah Winfrey and Scott Sanders, director Blitz Bazawule and players Barrino, Brooks, Henson, Domingo, Corey Hawkins (Harpo), Gabriella Wilson (a.k.a. H.E.R., who portrays Squeak), Halle Bailey (Nettie Harris) and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi (the young Celie).
A key moment of the discussion happened when Winfrey – who earned a 1986 Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Sofia in the ’85 “Color Purple” and is producing the new edition along with Sanders, Steven Spielberg (who directed the original) and Quincy Jones – was asked what it meant to her to share the lineage by seeing a new performer as Sofia on screen.
“Well, ‘The Color Purple’ changed my life in 1985,” she began. “I never wanted anything more in my life than to be in ‘The Color Purple.’ In the end credits, there’s something called the ‘best boy,’ and I was going to convince Quincy Jones that I could be a best boy…And for every one of us up here, it is a story of look what God has done. From the very first time I read ‘The Color Purple,’ it was a blessing in my life because until that time I didn’t know that there was language for what had happened to me. And the first line of the book is, ‘Dead God, I am 14 years old. Please help me know what’s happening to me. And I had been raped and had a child at 14 who later died, and I did not have any language to explain what that was.”
Winfrey continued, “That book was the first time that there was a story about me. And so to come full circle and then to be discovered by Quincy Jones and be in the movie and literally prayed on my knees every night for the opportunity to be in that movie, I never wanted anything more. And then when it happened, it changed my life. It changed everything for me. And to now be in a position to come so full circle that I’m producing…And I remember at the time getting $35,000 to do ‘The Color Purple,’ and my lawyer said, ‘I know I can get you 50,’ and I go, ‘Please don’t!’ I would (have done) it for nothing.”
She went on to explain that she wanted to contact Danielle Brooks before an iconic scene was filmed, when Celie tells Harpo that the best way for him to control his woman Sofia was to bear her as Mister beat her.
“I wanted to be the one to call Danielle because it felt like passing the baton of glory and goodness,” she emphasized, “because this is what we will all reap from the experience of this movie because it is divinely touched. It’s bigger than all of us…There’s something really powerful going on with the spirit of it and the energy and the love and literally the vibrational frequency that we all brought to it. So to see everyone here on stage in their highest vibration, speaking of this thing that we love that is really greater than ourselves, I have no words for that. Look at what God has done.”
Brooks was then asked what it felt like to be doing that scene (and others) knowing that Oprah was on the other side of the camera.
“I had to pray,” she quipped to hearty laughter in the room. “You just want to make her proud, first of all. That’s the way you can honor (Winfrey) is by doing the work and getting yourself out of the way, removing all of the things you’re feeling and experiencing and (just) being Sofia. That’s the best gift I could give to the legendary Miss O.
“What I appreciate about this woman is that she held my hand through the whole thing and she let me fly. She said, ‘It’s yours, do what you may. You’ve got this.’ She reminded me of that. And she was just one phone call away…You know, this is heavy material, and there’s times where you have to shoot things over and over. (Winfrey) reminded me to call the ancestors that are there, that they will never leave you even when you feel depleted. So I’m very grateful for that and it taught me the lesson that when it’s my turn, do the same.”
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