Oprah Calls Salary for Original Color Purple Movie the ‘Best $35,000 I Ever Earned’

Oprah Winfrey reflects on the movie that changed her life’s trajectory.

In an Essence In a magazine cover interview conducted in May and published Tuesday, Winfrey said she “wanted nothing more in my life than to be in Purple” when Alice Walker’s novel was being adapted into a film in 1985.

“They were only offering $35,000 to be in this movie,” the media mogul, 69, said of the salary for her feature debut. “And it’s the best $35,000 I’ve ever made.”

In conversation with the stars of the upcoming film musical by director Blitz Bazawule and screenwriter Marcus Gardley Purple — Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson and HER — Winfrey added that playing Sofia in the original film “changed everything and taught me so much. It is God moving through my life.”

Halle Bailey says ‘Color Purple’ set was ‘like going to a cookout’: ‘It felt like a family reunion’

Oprah Winfrey in “The Color Purple” (1985). Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted by Menno Meyjes, 1985 Purple cast Winfrey as the assertive Sofia despite her lack of acting experience at the time. Her powerful performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, one of a total of 11 nominations for the film.

At the 2016 Essence Fest, Winfrey described her obsession with Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and her determination to make it to Spielberg’s set. “I didn’t need a speaking role. I was willing to carry the script, help people with water,” she said at the time, according to reports Entertainment Weekly.

On The Oprah Winfrey Show and in interviews since then, producer and composer Quincy Jones has confirmed that he saw Winfrey on screen in her job as a local television anchor in Chicago. As Winfrey recalled, “Quincy Jones calls Reuben Cannon, the casting agent, and says ‘I think I’ve found Sophia.’ ”

Playing Sofia in the new one Color Purple starring Brooks, 34, who earned a Tony nomination for her performance in the role during the 2016 Broadway revival of the Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray and Marsha Norman musical. That production starred Jennifer Hudson and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo.

In an OprahDaily.com recap of a visit to the new film’s set in May, Winfrey wrote that she “unexpectedly burst into tears at first sight of the gifted Danielle Brooks… It felt like the baton was indeed being passed on at one of the most special moments of my life. Both we hugged each other and ugly cried together.”

“Thank you for setting the blueprint for Sofia,” Brooks Winfrey said Essence. “I know that she has changed your life, and I feel that mine will change as well.” Thank you for leaving me space, but you were there to hold my hand and answer the phone when I needed you. You were such a light, such a beautiful soul.”

Barrino took over the lead role of Celia in the original Broadway production of the musical in 2007, taking over the role of Tony winner LaChanze. The American Idol the winner now follows Whoopi Goldberg in the same role on the big screen.

Oprah Winfrey Co-Author Arthur C. Brooks Explains How She ‘Cracked the Code’ for Handling Fame (Exclusive)

Danielle Brooks and Corey Hawkins in “The Color Purple” (2023).

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Winfrey, who is working as a producer on the upcoming movie musical, said in a recording released by Warner Bros. Pictures shared with PEOPLE: “There is nothing that has been more important or vital to me culturally or artistically. Purple. It is a solid base of spiritual and emotional strength for me.”

Purple actors Halle Bailey, Corey Hawkins, Jon Batiste, Louis Gossett Jr., David Alan Grier, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Deon Cole and Ciara. It arrives in theaters on December 25.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education