Warner Bros. released the first movie trailer of The Color Purple Broadway musical adaptation directed by Blitz Bazawule (The Burial of Kojo, and Beyonce’s Black Is King). The film stars Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Halle Bailey, Elizabeth Marvel, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Danielle Brooks, H.E.R, Coleman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Louis Gossett Jr., David Alan Grier, among others. Marcus Gardley, Alice Walker, and Marsha Norman penned the screenplay.
The upcoming film is based on the Tony-winning musical from Norman, Brenda Lee, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, which was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Alice Walker. It comes on the heels of a classic 1985 film adaptation from director Steven Spielberg and centers on Celie, a Black Southern woman who struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her father and others over the course of forty years.
The original Broadway musical debuted in 2005, scoring 11 Tony Award nominations in 2006 and Best Performance by an actress in a leading role for award for LaChanze in her role as Celie. The 2015 revival garnered four more Tony nominations and won for Best Revival of a Musical for Cynthia Erivo in her Broadway debut. The musical has also won Grammy and Emmy awards.
Spielberg directed and produced the 1985 adaptation of the Alice Walker novel which received 11-time Oscar-nominations. The film scored Winfrey a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, and Leading Actress Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award for Whoopi Goldberg.
The Color Purple (2023) producers include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Quincy Jones with executive producers Alice Walker, and Rebecca Walker.
