The first The Color Purple trailer has arrived with American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino reprising her Broadway role. The epic musical reunites Steven Spielberg, the director of the 1985 film, with Oprah Winfrey, who made her feature film debut playing Sofia. Quincy Jones, a producer on the original film, is also back as an executive producer along with Spielberg and Winfrey.
Fantasia Barrino’s picked the perfect project as her movie debut, starring as the adult Celie, with Phylicia Pearl Mpasi as the young Celie. Halle Bailey plays young Nettie, Ciara is adult Nettie, Danielle Brooks is Sofia, Taraji P. Henson is Shug Avery, and Colman Domingo stars as Mister. Corey Hawkins is Harpo, H.E.R. is Squeak, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is Mama.
Blitz Bazawule (Black Is King, The Burial of Kojo) directed the musical and Marcus Gardley (Maid, The Chi) wrote the screenplay based on the novel by Alice Walker and the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. Author Walker serves as an executive producer along with Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini, Mara Jacobs, Adam Fell, Courtenay Valenti, Sheila Walcott, and Michael Beugg.
The behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Dan Laustsen (John Wick: Chapter 4, The Shape of Water), production designer Paul Denham Austerberry (The Flash, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), editor Jon Poll (Bombshell, The Greatest Showman), choreographer Fatima Robinson (Coming 2 America, Dreamgirls), and costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (Emancipation, One Night in Miami…).
Jordan Carroll (The Greatest Showman, Godfather of Harlem) and Morgan Rhodes (Space Jam: A New Legacy, Selma) are the music supervisors. The music is by Kris Bowers (King Richard, Green Book) and the executive music producers are Nick Baxter (Babylon, CODA), Stephen Bray (Respect, Juanita) and Blitz Bazawule.
Warner Bros. Pictures is opening in theaters on December 25, 2023.
