Oprah Winfrey says her paycheck for “The Color Purple” was the best she’s ever earned.
The media mogul portrayed Sofia in the 1985 original Steven Spielberg movie. Her role happened to be her feature film debut and earned her a best supporting actress Oscar nomination, which she tells Essence in a new interview, “changed everything.”
“I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to me — a person who wanted nothing more in my life than to be in ‘The Color Purple.’ And God taught me to surrender — that was the big lesson for me,” Winfrey said, before revealing how much they paid her for the part. “They were only offering $35,000 to be in this film, and it is the best $35,000 I ever earned.”
“It changed everything and taught me so much. It is God moving through my life,” she continued.
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“The Color Purple” is a 1982 novel by Alice Walker and centers on Celie, a Black Southern woman in the 1900s who is abused by her father and husband. It was first adapted by Spielberg before becoming a Broadway show in 2005 and 2015.
The new adaptation, directed by Blitz Bazawule, will premiere on Dec. 25 and is a big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical.
Winfrey is a producer along with Spielberg and calls it “a full-circle moment.” Taking over her role is Danielle Brooks. Fantasia Barrino stars as Celie, with Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo and Halle Bailey, among others, co-starring.
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The first trailer for the 2023 musical was released in May, with the second trailer dropping Oct. 10. The first looks feature snippets of the actors belting out in song, dance sequences and what is expected to be emotional moments.
When asked why they felt the need to retell the story almost 40 years later, Winfrey said during the trailer launch event, per Variety, “The reason this moment is so important is as long there is a need for self-discovery, self-empowerment, as long as there is a need for victory in someone’s life as long, as there is a need for people to know what it feels like to be loved up and to be made full and hold to somebody else’s love, there will be a need for ‘The Color Purple.’”
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