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Updated: Oprah Winfrey announced last night during ABC's broadcast of Soul of a Nation Presents: Screen Queens Rising, that American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino (After Midnight) has been cast as Celie, the young woman who triumphs over adversity, in the upcoming feature film adaptation of The Color Purple musical. Tony nominee Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black) will take on the role of Sofia. Both actors have previously starred in The Color Purple on Broadway.
Oscar and Emmy nominated actress Taraji P. Henson is set to start as Shug Avery in Blitz Bazawule’s new film adaptation of The Color Purple.
The upcoming Warner Brothers film is an adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical, which is itself an adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, accord to Variety. The movie will be directed by Blitz Bazawul and is set to be released on December 20, 2023.
Oprah Winfrey, who made her feature acting debut in Spielberg’s 1985 movie, The Color Purple, is producing the new movie alongside Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones, both of whom Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Mara Jacobs, Carla Gardini, Kristie Macosko Krieger and Adam Fell are executive producers. Henson joins previously announced cast Corey Hawkins as Harpo and H.E.R. as Squeak.