Blitz Bazawule could care less about The Color Purple’s recent award nominations. The film’s director isn’t worried about the movie-musical’s Best Picture snub at the Golden Globe or wowed by the musical’s five Critics Choice nominations and three mentions on the Oscars’ shortlist for its music. He understands the significance of such accolades, but says he prefers to focus on how viewers will receive the Broadway musical adaptation.
“I honestly do not pay attention to any of it,” Bazawule tells Rolling Stone, the day the Critics Choice nominations were announced.
“I honestly do not pay attention to any of it,” Bazawule tells Rolling Stone, the day the Critics Choice nominations were announced.
- 12/25/2023
- by Kalia Richardson
- Rollingstone.com
Plot: A young black woman in the South overcomes decades of cruelty to find her voice and live the life she always dreamed of.
Review: Some may have been wary at the thought of a musical remake of Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (based on Alice Walker’s novel). With its themes of rape, incest, abuse and cruelty, it didn’t seem like a natural pick to get an “all singing, all dancing” big-budget musical remake. Still, it works much better than it should, thanks to a creative director, a terrific cast and a surprisingly adaptable story to a different kind of genre.
In truth, I didn’t feel like I would like it for about the first twenty minutes of Blitz Bazawule’s The Color Purple. The grim story kept me at arm’s length, and the song wasn’t doing it for me. But, after a little while,...
Review: Some may have been wary at the thought of a musical remake of Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (based on Alice Walker’s novel). With its themes of rape, incest, abuse and cruelty, it didn’t seem like a natural pick to get an “all singing, all dancing” big-budget musical remake. Still, it works much better than it should, thanks to a creative director, a terrific cast and a surprisingly adaptable story to a different kind of genre.
In truth, I didn’t feel like I would like it for about the first twenty minutes of Blitz Bazawule’s The Color Purple. The grim story kept me at arm’s length, and the song wasn’t doing it for me. But, after a little while,...
- 12/21/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Where do you stand on the 1985 film version of “The Color Purple,” which was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but won none? Some feel it wasn’t Steven Spielberg’s story to tell. Others marvel at how a director of the upbringing depicted in “The Fabelmans” managed to recognize and reflect so many aspects of Black culture: the music, the spirituality, the multiple catharses to which it builds. Looking back, Spielberg did justice to Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-winning novel, but he also left room to expand and improve.
Now, nearly four decades later, a rousing new version arrives from director Blitz Bazawule, who collaborated with Beyoncé on her 2020 visual album “Black Is King.” Instead of rejecting what came before, the Ghanian filmmaker embraces and builds upon it, collaborating with Spielberg, Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey to update the material for the next generation (all three serve as producers). The main change,...
Now, nearly four decades later, a rousing new version arrives from director Blitz Bazawule, who collaborated with Beyoncé on her 2020 visual album “Black Is King.” Instead of rejecting what came before, the Ghanian filmmaker embraces and builds upon it, collaborating with Spielberg, Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey to update the material for the next generation (all three serve as producers). The main change,...
- 12/19/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
For a story so filled with trauma and sorrow — violence, suffering, racism, child abduction, spousal abuse — the second screen adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel, The Color Purple, is a surprisingly joyful experience. The prevailing takeaway is its resounding themes of spirituality, self-discovery, redemption and resilience. Based on the 2005 Broadway musical that was revived to great acclaim 10 years later, the production marks a confident move onto a much larger canvas for Ghanaian multimedia artist Blitz Bazawule. It nods graciously to the imprint of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film while vigorously forging its own identity.
The connection to the earlier version is partly built in by having Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones back on board as producers (alongside stage producer Scott Sanders). It’s also evident in the color palette of those shimmering Amblin skies, in two songs from the movie incorporated into the Broadway score and in an unbilled cameo early on.
The connection to the earlier version is partly built in by having Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones back on board as producers (alongside stage producer Scott Sanders). It’s also evident in the color palette of those shimmering Amblin skies, in two songs from the movie incorporated into the Broadway score and in an unbilled cameo early on.
- 12/19/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“I’m just continuing to remind myself to breathe,” says Danielle Brooks when asked about her recent Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. She plays Sofia in Blitz Bazawule‘s “The Color Purple,” a role she earned a Tony nomination for on Broadway in 2015. “It’s been a whirlwind. I’m in awe that these moments are hitting me. I feel like it’s my time.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Brooks was thrilled to revisit the character of Sofia on a film set. “With theater, after you do previews you lock the show,” she explains. “I played Sofia for a year, and there’s so many new discoveries that come up. You just start to see things differently. These discoveries emerge, but you cannot act upon them because that could change the whole show. So it can be stifling in the creative process.
Brooks was thrilled to revisit the character of Sofia on a film set. “With theater, after you do previews you lock the show,” she explains. “I played Sofia for a year, and there’s so many new discoveries that come up. You just start to see things differently. These discoveries emerge, but you cannot act upon them because that could change the whole show. So it can be stifling in the creative process.
- 12/19/2023
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
“I can’t believe it,” says Fantasia Barrino when responding to her recent Golden Globe nomination for Best Comedy/Musical Actress. She stars as Celie in Blitz Bazawule‘s musical film adaptation of “The Color Purple.” “When I left Broadway, I had done interviews and I said I would never go back. I meant it. I was so young. My life was all over the place. I felt like I was carrying my cross and Celie’s cross. That was heavy.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Barrino credits Bazawule for luring her back to the character she had distanced herself from. “He said, ‘I’m gonna give Celie an imagination,'” she recalls. “He said, ‘Fantasia, my mother is Celie.’ Every person that goes through anything traumatic, they have an imagination. We don’t just wallow in that. I told him then, ‘I’m in.’ I knew that wasn’t going to be easy.
Barrino credits Bazawule for luring her back to the character she had distanced herself from. “He said, ‘I’m gonna give Celie an imagination,'” she recalls. “He said, ‘Fantasia, my mother is Celie.’ Every person that goes through anything traumatic, they have an imagination. We don’t just wallow in that. I told him then, ‘I’m in.’ I knew that wasn’t going to be easy.
- 12/15/2023
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
Danielle Brooks is having one of the most significant moments in her career, playing Sofia in “The Color Purple.” It’s a role that she portrayed on Broadway and received her first Tony nomination — but it wasn’t easy for the critically-acclaimed performer to get here.
As the spirited and no-nonsense wife to Harpo (Corey Hawkins), Brooks’ Sofia is positioned as the hopeful and joyous anchor in a narrative that, at times, carries a thematic weight, craving moments of levity. Brooks achieves this with aplomb in sequences like “Hell No,” reminiscent of the impactful “Cell Block Tango” from the best picture-winning musical “Chicago,” which showcased the goods of future supporting actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones.
On this episode of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Brooks talks about landing the role once portrayed by Oprah Winfrey in the 1985 version. She also talks about the lessons she learned after not being cast...
As the spirited and no-nonsense wife to Harpo (Corey Hawkins), Brooks’ Sofia is positioned as the hopeful and joyous anchor in a narrative that, at times, carries a thematic weight, craving moments of levity. Brooks achieves this with aplomb in sequences like “Hell No,” reminiscent of the impactful “Cell Block Tango” from the best picture-winning musical “Chicago,” which showcased the goods of future supporting actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones.
On this episode of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Brooks talks about landing the role once portrayed by Oprah Winfrey in the 1985 version. She also talks about the lessons she learned after not being cast...
- 12/14/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
From left: Taraji P. Henson , Fantasia Barrino, and Danielle Brooks in The Color PurpleImage: Warner Bros.
The Color Purple has had a fascinating journey through popular culture over the past four decades. Ever since Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was published in 1982, the story of a young Black woman...
The Color Purple has had a fascinating journey through popular culture over the past four decades. Ever since Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was published in 1982, the story of a young Black woman...
- 12/11/2023
- by Cindy White
- avclub.com
Corey Hawkins and Danielle Brooks may both be currently starring in the musical adaptation of The Color Purple, but the two have a long history, having been classmates at Juilliard over a decade ago.
The duo were part of the same 18-person class and have maintained a friendship since, with Hawkins telling The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s Los Angeles premiere Wednesday that “for this moment to come, it was always Danielle’s but I got the call first; I remember calling [producer] Scott Sanders and literally hung up the phone, picked it back up and I was like, ‘Bro, it has to be Danielle Brooks right? I’m not crazy.’ And of course it was, it always was,” he recounted. “She’s an incredible talent, she stands on her own, and when people see this film they will understand the magnitude of what she brings, of what all of these women bring.
The duo were part of the same 18-person class and have maintained a friendship since, with Hawkins telling The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s Los Angeles premiere Wednesday that “for this moment to come, it was always Danielle’s but I got the call first; I remember calling [producer] Scott Sanders and literally hung up the phone, picked it back up and I was like, ‘Bro, it has to be Danielle Brooks right? I’m not crazy.’ And of course it was, it always was,” he recounted. “She’s an incredible talent, she stands on her own, and when people see this film they will understand the magnitude of what she brings, of what all of these women bring.
- 12/7/2023
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Marx Brothers – mustachioed, stogie-smoking ring-leader Groucho, chatty, Italian-accented con man Chico, silent skirt-chaser Harpo and, early on, relatively “normal” matinee idol Zeppo – first got their start as a vaudeville comedy act at the turn of the 20th century. They would go on to conquer the Broadway stage before landing in films when “talkies” took off.
Zeppo would drop out of the act after five films, becoming an engineer and a talent agent. But his older siblings would continue their frenzied verbal and visual hilarity on the big screen until 1949, when the medium of television beckoned and competed for eyeballs. Groucho would host a TV version of his radio game show, “You Bet Your Life,” for 11 seasons on NBC and appeared on Dick Cavett’s TV talk show in the late ‘60s. That is when their Marx Brothers’ anarchistic approach to humor and word-play takedowns of hypocrites and stuffy high-society...
Zeppo would drop out of the act after five films, becoming an engineer and a talent agent. But his older siblings would continue their frenzied verbal and visual hilarity on the big screen until 1949, when the medium of television beckoned and competed for eyeballs. Groucho would host a TV version of his radio game show, “You Bet Your Life,” for 11 seasons on NBC and appeared on Dick Cavett’s TV talk show in the late ‘60s. That is when their Marx Brothers’ anarchistic approach to humor and word-play takedowns of hypocrites and stuffy high-society...
- 9/30/2023
- by Susan Wloszczyna, Chris Beachum and Misty Holland
- Gold Derby
There are some great scenes and great performances in “The Color Purple,” but it is not a great film.
Steven Spielberg’s turn at “serious” filmmaking is marred in more than one place by overblown production that threatens to drown in its own emotions. But the characters created in Alice’s Walker’s novel are so vivid that even this doesn’t kill them off and there is still much to applaud (and cry about) here. Boxoffice outlook is promising without approaching other Spielberg Superhits. Comparisons to Walker’s novel are inevitable and it seems safe to say that those who haven’t read the book will be more favorably disposed to the film. It is not that the film need slavishly recreate the book — no film does. It is more a question of whether the film preserves and translates what made the book special and the answer here is yes,...
Steven Spielberg’s turn at “serious” filmmaking is marred in more than one place by overblown production that threatens to drown in its own emotions. But the characters created in Alice’s Walker’s novel are so vivid that even this doesn’t kill them off and there is still much to applaud (and cry about) here. Boxoffice outlook is promising without approaching other Spielberg Superhits. Comparisons to Walker’s novel are inevitable and it seems safe to say that those who haven’t read the book will be more favorably disposed to the film. It is not that the film need slavishly recreate the book — no film does. It is more a question of whether the film preserves and translates what made the book special and the answer here is yes,...
- 12/19/1985
- by James Greenberg
- Variety Film + TV
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