Ameyaw Meets
Oprah Winfrey & Blitz Bazawule answer my questions about ‘The Color Purple’
In April, I had the opportunity to join a Zoom Q&A session with Oprah Winfrey and Blitz Bazawule, courtesy FilmOne Distribution. The conversation was around the bold remake of ‘The Color Purple’ scheduled for release this Christmas!
Oprah Winfrey who starred in the epic drama, is a producer on the new musical twist, which is directed by Blitz Bazawule. I sent my questions to moderator, Kelley Carter who asked two of them on my behalf:
The Color Purple has a lot of history and with stars like Halle Bailey and H.E.R, what do you think makes this film relevant for younger audiences today?
Blitz: I mean, it is the connection of this evergreen idea and reality of this Black woman’s life and the lives around her. I think that what’s special about having Halle Bailey and H.E.R , others is that, of course, all their families revere The Color Purple. They’ve seen it. One of the first conversations we had in casting was, how many times has your family seen The Color Purple? And everybody was, oh man, we can all quote lines from it.
So, they all knew the responsibility, and I really encouraged everyone to make it theirs. That was my main thing. I said, I’m gonna go to the edge, and I need you to come with me. And what we’re not going to do is mimic, because Oprah has done it, Margaret Avery’s done it, Danny Glover’s done it. They’ve done their version of The Color Purple. And if you want to justify your reason for being, you have to take it and make it yours. And it was beautiful to see the younger actors and actresses build into their own confidence to say, we’re only worth contributing to the cannon if we make it ours. And that was the job.
Oprah: It’s one of the reasons I made sure I was on set the day that Danielle Brooks was doing the “you told Harpo to beat me” line. No pressure on Daniella, but I wanted her to know that I was officially passing the baton to her to make it her own and do it her way because this is the new dawn. And we both hugged and shed tears afterward, and it was a really emotional moment. Actually, I will say this, that first day on set, seeing just Danielle walk across the field as Sophia, she wasn’t even doing a big scene. I got emotional seeing her in costume because it was a triggering moment for me of that whole time and everything that, The Color Purple was. It changed the trajectory of my life and was the beginning of the ascension of everything that happened in my life. So, yeah, it was emotional.
How did you decide on some of the castings because both Fantasia and Danielle were in the Broadway production, what made them perfect choices for the film itself?
Blitz: I could start by saying that I cast with my heart. People come with incredibly impressive CVs. You know, they’ve done it all. They are the big name. They’re the ones that you’re told to cast. And I believe deeply in people with an endless well of lived experience who can relate naturally to what you’re asking them to do.
Read Also: Continuing ‘The Color Purple’ story is a full circle moment for me – Oprah Winfrey
When I asked Fantasia to say it one more time, I know that she has to go there. And I know that that’s the only way that we can create something special and beautiful. And so, that was how I went into every casting process. With Fantasia all I needed someone with an endless well, somebody who could emote, someone who could reach in. And I knew I’ll be asking of her several times.
Danielle was the same, and so were Colman and Corey, and the group. But the other thing too, that was very important for us in this process was always asking the cast or really asking ourselves, where in the narrative are we and who’s the right person to take over? So thinking about young Celie and older Celie, right? Of course, we know we’ll never get a perfect match, but their spirits had to match. That was another way in which we cast. And then overall, for our ladies who came from Broadway, Danielle, and Fantasia would live the role on stage, our biggest conversation was this idea of suspension of disbelief.
When you’re in the theatre, everybody agrees that this ain’t real. But when you’re on that set, we’re supposed to believe that you’re living it. And that was a journey that we all had to make together to say we’re living, we’re not acting. So when I see a move that feels like an act, I go and I just whisper, we’re living, we’re living. And they’ll know what to do immediately. So that was really my process of casting.
Oprah: I was on that team, signing off on all the casting. And so all these names that are now a part of our beautiful repertoire of actors, were a big yes from all of us. And having sat and spent time with Fantasia, I am even more deeply moved because, at the time that we cast her, I didn’t know that Celie’s story was really a replica of much of what she’s already experienced. And as we were just talking the other day, pretty traumatizing, actually, pretty triggering to have to step into that and live and relive some of those feelings and emotions and actions again.
So the fact that she brought her whole self to that is pretty remarkable and it shows up on the screen. And I’m just so grateful to her and all of our cast, of course, but I realize how hard that was to do. I remember hearing this from Quincy Jones years ago that they had originally gone to Tina Turner in 1985 to ask Tina Turner to play Shug Avery. Tina Turner turned down the role of Shug Avery because she said she’d already lived it with Mike and she was not going to put herself through it again. And so to see that Fantasia actually had, in this particular time in her life, enough of what it takes to get through that and was willing to put herself through that to relive the experience. It’s really pretty amazing, I think. I love that. And I know everybody uses the word amazing, but I think it’s amazing. It’s amazing grace that she did it and came through it and came out on the other side of it with a sense of forgiveness and hope for herself and her family.
Viewers are invited to experience the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond in “The Color Purple.” This bold new take on the beloved classic is directed by Blitz Bazawule and produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones.
“The Color Purple” stars Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Fear the Walking Dead”), Corey Hawkins, H.E.R , Halle Bailey, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Fantasia Barrino. “The Color Purple.” It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to open in theaters in North America on December 25, 2023 and internationally beginning 18 January 2024.
