The Color Purplehas been a full-circle experience forOprah Winfrey.
The multihyphenate star was nominated for an Oscar for her breakout film role as Sofia in the 1985 film.Now, nearly four decades later, she’s gearing up to release the musical version she co-produced, based on the Broadway show.
Landing the part was something out of a dream, as Winfrey, 69,tells PEOPLE for this week’s cover story, “I’d never been to a movie set.”
“Doingthe [original] film wasthe most important thing that had ever happened to me and continues to be a central theme in my life,” she says.
Winfrey adds, “It’s as big a miracle as my whole life has been, because I didn’t know one single soul in the business.”
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Oprah Winfrey as Sofia inThe Color Purple(1985).Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
Winfrey says 1985’sThe Color Purple— which was nominated for 11 total Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress forWhoopi Goldberg— “is the reason I ended up owning my own show, why I learned to surrender, do the hardest work and then let that work go.”
“The Color Purpleis why I created the culture at my company Harpo that I did, because I had seen atSteven Spielberg’s Amblin that you can own your own studio [and] make a family of your work,” she continues. “That movie was a spiritual grounding for me.”
Oprah Winfrey at “The Color Purple” premiere in Los Angeles on Dec. 6, 2023.Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Spielberg, 76, directed the original film, based on author Alice Walker’s 1982 novel of the same name, and he serves as a producer on themovie musical adaptation, alongside Winfrey.
The synopsis for 2023’sColor Purpleteases a “musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel about the lifelong struggles of an African-American woman living in the South during the early 1900s.”
The film is a “bold new take on the beloved classic” about “the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond,” according to the synopsis.
For more on Oprah Winfrey, pick up the latest issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
Oprah Winfrey on the cover of PEOPLE.Joe Pugliese
Joe Pugliese
The movie starsFantasia Barrinoas Celie in her feature film debut among a star-studded cast that includesDanielle Brooks,Taraji P. Henson,Halle Bailey, Louis Gossett Jr.,Corey Hawkins,David Alan Grier,Colman Domingo,Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor,H.E.R.,Ciara,Jon BatisteandDeon Cole.
Asked where she goes from here, she says, “Maya Angelouwrote a poem for me called ‘Continue’ … One of the most important lines is, ‘My wish for you is that you continue to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.’ And that is what I intend to do.”
The Color Purpleis in theaters Christmas Day.
source: people.com
