The Color Purple returns to the big screen.
The film adaptation of the musical based on the famous 1983 novel arrives in Italian cinemas on 8 February. The story of the redemption of Celie, a young African-American abused first by her father and then by her husband in Georgia at the beginning of the 20th century, has gone from Broadway to Hollywood by will of an exceptional producer, Oprah Winfrey.
During the press conference in Los Angeles he had to dry his eyes several times, while explaining why he wanted to bring to the cinema the text of "healing, forgiveness and sisterhood" by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, "who came forward on her own, but she spoke for ten thousand. She gave voice to an entire community of black women accustomed to suffering violence and discrimination."
In 1985, Steven Spielberg's call "just changed everything."
The director had chosen her for the part of Sofia, the rebellious and proud daughter-in-law of the protagonist, in the first film adaptation of the novel.
"In my life - Winfrey is moved - I have never wanted something like that role. It was a decisive moment, which changed my soul and my trajectory, and guided me for years to come. Then came The Oprah Show and all, but it's 'Purple' that saved me," she says, dressed in purple, with purple glasses, nail polish and lipstick.
Forty years later, having turned 70 and become one of the most authoritative and powerful voices on TV, she brings audiences all over the world the new cinematic transposition of that "sacred text".
She is no longer in front of the camera, but she is a producer alongside Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones.
"We canvassed various directors, but we immediately agreed on Blitz Bazawule."
Beyoncé's visionary co-director of Black is King decided to keep the original songs from the musical that won two Tony Awards in 2016.
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