Fantasia Cast As Celie In ‘The Color Purple’ Musical Film

Fantasia Taylor is returning to play Celie in The Color Purple.

On Thursday, after much anticipation, Warner Bros announced the principal cast for the new musical feature of The Color Purple. Taylor will be joined by Danielle Brooks who will play Sofia, Colman Domingo who will play Mister and Halle Bailey who will play Young Nettie.

Both Taylor and Brooks return to the roles after starring in the Broadway musical in 2015 and 2019 respectively.

Taylor shared the moment she found out she was cast in the film in a post on Instagram.

 

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Brooks learned of her casting during a surprise zoom chat with Oprah Winfrey.

Blessing upon blessings. So grateful to announce I’ll be playing Sofia in the upcoming Color Purple movie. Here’s a clip of how I found out I got the part from Oprah herself. 💜💜for full video head to my IG: daniebb3 pic.twitter.com/DqhGz5yilb

— Danielle Brooks (@thedanieb) February 4, 2022

Previously announced cast include Taraji P. Henson (Shug Avery), Corey Hawkins (Harpo) and Singer-songwriter H.E.R. who will make her acting debut (Squeak).

The film will be directed by Blitz Bazawule. Blitz’s feature directorial debut The Burial Of Kojo premiered on Netflix in 2019 via Ava DuVernay’s Array Films. He was also a director on Ava’s Cherish the Day for Own. He also co-directed Beyoncé’s Black Is King which earned him a Grammy nomination in 2020.

The 1985 film was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Margaret Avery as Shug.

Winfrey, Spielberg and Quincy Jones have reunited and are partnered with Scott Sanders (who developed and produced the Broadway stage musical) to form the producing team of The Color Purple musical film.

The film will be executive produced by Alice Walker (author of the novel), Rebecca Walker, Mara Jacobs, Carla Gardini, Kristie Macosko Krieger and Adam Fell. The script is by Marcus Gardley (“The Chi”), based on Alice Walker’s book, the 1985 Warner Bros. Pictures film, and the stage musical.

Choreography will be by Fatima Robinson.

The Color Purple will come to theaters around the globe in December 2023. Production begins this March in Atlanta.