In 1985 Steven Spielberg painted a vivid representation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel The Color Purple in his film keeping the same name. Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg led the movie with astounding performances.
Director Blitz Bazawule saw the whole story with slightly different spectacles while adhering to the original narrative. Blitz’s remaking of the movie as a musical drama gets long applause from critics, also, the new movie features one of the original stars, Goldberg. However, Winfrey was hesitant for an on-screen cameo.
Oprah Winfrey Explains Her Absence From The Color Purple Remake
The original Sofia actor Oprah Winfrey in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple did not appear in a cameo in Blitz Bazawule’s 2023 remake. However, she was not completely away from the movie as she executive produced the movie. But discarding a cameo for the actor/producer came later after going through a thought process.
“Actually, I thought about it, it would’ve been good in the church scene, but I thought it would also be distracting when Sofia is getting married that if the old original Sofia was just one of the people in the church, and then they were shooting that in the middle of Georgia when COVID was [spreading] like, ‘OK, well I ain’t sitting in that church all day anyway.’ And also I just think it’s more special that it’s just Whoopi,” Winfrey told The Hollywood Reporter.
Instant Dream Home and Peacemaker actor Danielle Brooks took the role on her shoulder to carry the legacy of Winfrey’s prowess with an Oscar nomination to her credit. Many critics hailed her performance while her name floats in the Oscar buzz and she has already received a Golden Globe nomination.
Oprah Winfrey Passing On The Role to Danielle Brooks
It appears Winfrey made the perfect choice in casting Brooks for Sofia, the producer candidly revealed that she was proud of passing on the role to the Peacemaker actor. “I wanted to make the call myself because Sofia had been such an iconic part of me and ‘The Color Purple’ has been such an amazing part of my life,” Winfrey told CBS.
“We both hugged and cried after she finished. It is officially done. You have taken it and made it yours. It is officially done.”
Brooks was also aware of the weight of the role, “I have a responsibility to all of the Sofias that are living in this world,” she told the outlet. “They need a voice that needs somebody to speak for them which she was for me and now I can be for someone else,” she added. Thankfully, her commitment paid off as she has already claimed astounding accolades.
