The Color Purple
All actors and roles (10)
Short description
Based on the novel by Alice Walker, The Color Purple follows Celie, an African American woman in the early twentieth-century South whose life is defined at first by the cruelty of the men around her. Pregnant as a teenager and separated from her children, she is married off to a tyrannical widower known as Mister, who treats her as little more than a servant. The one comfort in her life is her younger sister Nettie, who is driven from the household and promises to write, though no letter ever seems to reach Celie. Over the decades that follow, Celie forms bonds with other women, among them the singer Shug Avery, who encourages her to stand up for herself and to imagine a life beyond the one she was given.
Steven Spielberg directed the film, the thirteenth of the forty features listed for him in chronological order, arriving after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and before Amazing Stories. Menno Meyjes wrote the screenplay, and Spielberg produced with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Whoopi Goldberg plays Celie, with Danny Glover as Albert, Margaret Avery as Shug Avery, Oprah Winfrey as Sofia, Willard E. Pugh as Harpo and Akosua Busia as Nettie, among fifty-five credited cast members.
Made for about 15 million dollars, the film took roughly 146 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.7 from about 104,000 votes and on TMDB 7.7 from just over 2,000; a critics' rating of 7.6 from 127 reviews places it close to those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The street scenes were filmed in Marshville, North Carolina. The city authorities did not allow the removal of a lamppost during filming, so it had to be covered with a fake tree.
- Steven Spielberg tried for a long time to persuade singer Chaka Khan (born Yvette Marie Stevens) to play the role of Shug Avery. She admitted she was afraid and refused all requests. Singers Tina Turner, Lola Falana, and Diana Ross also turned down the role of Shug.
- While Steven Spielberg was working on this film, his first child was born. Spielberg had to leave the set and go home, and this happened during the preparation for the scene where Sely gives birth. The assistant director took over the filming. While at home, Spielberg recorded the cry of the newborn, and these sounds were later overlaid on the scene of Sely's childbirth.
- This was Whoopi Goldberg's first feature film. Her name is even mentioned in the opening credits with the line "Introducing Whoopi Goldberg."
- This was the only film nominated for "Best Picture" this year that did not win any Academy Awards, although the film was nominated for a total of 11 Oscars.
- Oprah Winfrey's first role in a film.
- The argument between Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey occurred right during the filming of this movie.
- Oprah Winfrey was in a weight-loss clinic when she was informed she had been cast as Sofia. She had to leave the clinic urgently, as the role of Sofia required a certain degree of plumpness.
- Steven Spielberg deeply regrets not having the courage to depict a romantic relationship between Celie and Shug in the film. At the time, he feared that lesbian love would alienate audiences.
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