Warner Bros. has unveiled new footage from the upcoming adaptation of The Color Purple.
The footage includes interviews with the cast, producer Oprah Winfrey, and Ghanaian director Blitz Bazawule.
At the start of the featurette, titled “A Bold New Take,” Winfrey discusses the cultural significance of the story.
“There’s nothing that’s been more important or vital to me culturally or artistically than The Color Purple. It is a solid base of spiritual and emotional power for me,” Winfrey says as scenes showing churchgoers play in the background.
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She continues, “Every woman and man who has been invisible, who has felt unseen and unvalued, this is their story.”
The video offers a glimpse at key characters, including Halle Bailey as Nettie, Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery, H.E.R. as Squeak, Danielle Brooks as Sofia, Jon Batiste as Grady, and Fantasia Barrino in her feature film debut as Celie.
Director Bazawule also discussed the original movie’s importance, describing it as “one of the cornerstones of culture, certainly Black culture.”
Henson, Brooks, and H.E.R. each emphasized the movie musical’s themes of self-discovery and empowerment, with H.E.R. noting, “You get to see all these strong women shine and be who they’re truly meant to be.”
The Color Purple is described as a “bold new take on the beloved classic,” focusing on “the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond” in 1930s rural Georgia.
The film is based on the novel of the same name by author Alice Walker. Originally published in 1982, the book earned a Pulitzer Prize and later became a film directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985.
In the original adaptation, Whoopi Goldberg starred as Celie — a woman who endured physical, sexual, and verbal abuse at the hands of her father and husband. Winfrey starred as Sofia, Margaret Avery played Shug, and Akosua Busia portrayed Nettie.
A musical adaptation premiered on Broadway in 2005 and won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
The upcoming film is set arrives in theaters on Christmas day.
Watch the featurette below:
