Taraji P. Henson (‘The Color Purple’): Shug Avery ‘was the voice for women who didn’t have a voice’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“What we did was really, really special,” says Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson, who plays Shug Avery in Blitz Bazawule‘s “The Color Purple” musical film. “We could feel it on the set. We feel it now as people are beginning to screen the movie. You can tell when you have done something really good because at the Q & A’s, no one leaves the theater.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

She describes Shug Avery as a hero. “She was the voice for women who didn’t have a voice,” Henson explains. “She was so bold to live her life unapologetically. We’re talking about the first generation of free slaves. A lot of folks didn’t leave the plantation because they didn’t know where to go. The fact that she had the gumption to leave everything she’s ever known behind and go out and brave the world and make something of herself, that’s pretty heroic for those times.”

SEE Blitz Bazawule (‘The Color Purple’ director) on ‘contributing something new to Alice Walker’s brilliant canon’ 

“Shug was daunting to me because she sings gospel, she sings the blues and she also sings jazz,” the actress admits. “I was petrified. I hadn’t sang like that since college. I kind of left music behind once I became a mother. I trained really hard. I know how to work hard for anything that I have to do. I got with my vocal coach, Stevie Mackey, and once I was cast I started working with him two month before we got to set. I wanted to make sure the music was in my body before we started adding the dialogue. I wanted that music to be in me.”

“The Color Purple” is a decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman’s journey to independence. Celie (Fantasia Barrino) faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood. The Warner Bros. film opens nationwide on December 25.

Henson also received her fourth Primetime Emmy nomination a few months ago, this time for her guest role on “Abbott Elementary.” She will find out the results at the Creative Arts ceremony on January 6.

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