The Color Purple has found its leading ladies, Celie and Sofia, in Fantasia Taylor and Danielle Brooks. Taylor is known for being American Idol’s season 3 winner while Brooks is known for her role as Taystee in Orange Is the New Black. The announcement was made on Thursday during ABC News' Soul of a Nation Presents: Screen Queens Rising.
Oprah Winfrey surprised Brooks with a Zoom call to tell her she landed the role, saying, "I am here representing all things purple to tell you that you are our Sofia. I'm so happy to pass whatever baton from 35 -- almost 40 -- years ago to you. And I know you're gonna kill it."
"My heart is so full," a teary Brooks said. "I'm going to make you so proud."
"You already have," Winfrey responded. "I wanted to be the one to tell you because you know I have such love for her, this character, everything she represents, and everything she brought to my life. And what I'm hoping is that she does the same thing for you."
Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, respectively, portrayed Celie and Sofia in Steven Spielberg's 1985 film adaptation of the book. Both actresses even earned their first Oscar nominations for their excellent performances in the movie. The film earned 11 nominations total at the Academy Awards, including best picture. It was also nominated for five Golden Globes, with Goldberg winning for best actress in a drama.
A musical version of the work took over Broadway from 2005 to 2008. Fantasia played the role of Celie from 2007 to 2008 during the original Broadway run while Brooks earned a Tony nomination for playing Sofia in the Broadway revival from 2015 to 2017. The original Broadway musical won one Tony and the revival won two. They earned a combined total of 15 nominations.
Fantasia Taylor and Danielle Brooks Will Portray the Honest Relationship Between Celie and Sofia
The Color Purple is an epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. It was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker.
Fantasia and Brooks join a star-studded cast including Taraji P. Henson, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Corey Hawkins, and Colman Domingo. The movie musical is set to be directed by Blitz Bazawule, begins production this spring, and is to be released in 2023.