‘The Color Purple’ Director Tells Whoopi Goldberg Surprise Cameo
Director Blitz Bazawule surprises the audience with his musical adaptation of The color purple – including a big surprise cameo.
Warning: Spoilers below for the color purple.
The film, which hits theaters on Monday, December 25, is based on the novel of the same name by Alice Walker, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Inspired by the book, but also by the Broadway play and Steven Spielberg 1985 film adaptation – the 2023 film again follows Celie (Fantasy Barrino) as she overcomes various hardships in her life while living in early 20th century Georgia.
While Barrino, 39 — who played the character on Broadway from 2007 to 2008 — stars in the latest adaptation, Whoopi Goldberg previously scored her first Oscar nomination for her role as Celie in Spielberg’s version. Goldberg’s iconic performance was something Bazawule knew he wanted to honor.
During a conversation with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, December 26, Bazawule shared that he initially considered bringing back Goldberg, 68, as Celie’s mother, but the choice felt “too difficult.” Instead, he cast her as a midwife who helps Phylicia Pearl Mouse young Celie gives birth to a baby at the beginning of the film.
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“Symbolically, that felt like the perfect role because she is the one who not only encouraged her during the birth, but it’s like she herself brought the role into the world and now we see her passing it on,” says screenwriter Marcus Gardley the outlet told us. “It’s one of the most beautiful scenes because you see it [Goldberg] look into [Mpasi] with pride and told her, ‘You can do it.’
Bazawule, meanwhile, was enthusiastic about Goldberg’s warm presence on set. “We had to stop and laugh at everything [Whoopi] did it, and you forget she comes from stand-up [comedy],” he said. ‘But most of all I remember how caring and loving she was to Phylicia.’
He added that Goldberg’s role in the film was “symbolic, not just because of what Whoopi represents in the canon of The color purple”, but what she represents in general. “The juggernaut that she is,” he explained. “And the doors she kicked open.”
The color purple first appeared on stage in 2005 and earned eleven Tony nominations in June 2006. Barrino joined as Celie in 2007 until the show’s doors closed the following year. In 2015, the musical opened with a new cast, earning two Tony Awards, including one for Best Revival of a Musical.
Although Barrino agreed to reprise the role for the 2023 film, she was initially hesitant to revisit Celie as the character.
“What I felt and wore when I stepped into her shoes and played her role, I wasn’t ready to go back to that,” she said Entertainment weekly earlier this month. However, it was Bazawule’s fresh take on the story that ultimately attracted her. When he told Barrino, “I give her imagination so that people can see certain things,” she changed her mind.
“I said, ‘Well, you got me. You have me. I have to do it again,” Barrino recalled. “What Blitz has to offer with this Color Purple, it is necessary for this generation.”
In the book, Celie writes letters to God describing the traumatic events in her past from an abusive stepfather and husband. The 2023 feature film uses magical realism during songs to show the audience what Celie is thinking.
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“Incorporating magical realism into this version of the story gives audiences the opportunity to step into Celie’s imagination,” says producer Scott Sanders told Vanity fair in February 2022. “In the early stages of Celie’s story, she is meek, small, and in many ways passive. So we don’t really understand what’s going on in that head of hers. We know there’s a lot going on, but we don’t necessarily know what it is.”
The color purple now playing in theaters.