Essence Fest 2023: Oprah Winfrey, Fantasia, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson and Blitz Bazawule talk The Color Purple
On June 30, 2023 Oprah Winfrey, Fantasia, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson and Blitz Bazawule came to Essence Fest to talk about their upcoming film The Color Purple. God-is Rivera, Chief Content Officer of Essence Ventures, was the moderator.
Produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones, the film is set to open in theaters in North America on December 25, 2023 and internationally beginning 18 January 2024.
Warner Bros Pictures invites you to experience the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond in The Color Purple. A musical adaptation of Alice Walker's novel about the life-long struggles of an African American woman living in the south during the early 1900s.
The Color Purple is directed by Ghanaian-American filmmaker Blitz Bazawule, of the films The Burial of Kojo and Beyonce's Black is King.
“The Color Purple” stars Fantasia as Celie Harris Johnson, Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery, Danielle Brooks as Sofia, Colman Domingo as Albert "Mister" Johnson, Corey Hawkins as Harpo Johnson, H.E.R. as Mary Agnes ("Squeak"), Ciara as Nettie Harris, Halle Bailey as young Nettie Harris, Phylicia Mpasi as young Celie Harris Johnson, Louis Gossett Jr. as Ol' Mister Johnson, David Alan Grier as Rev. Samuel Avery, Aunjanue Ellis as Mama, Tamela J. Mann as First Lady, Deon Cole as Alfonso, Stephen Hill as Henry "Buster" Broadnax, Elizabeth Marvel as Miss Millie, Jon Batiste as Grady and Jamaal Avery Jr. as Young Harpo.
The screenplay is by Marcus Gardley, based on the novel by Alice Walker and based on the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.