Oprah Winfrey recently said that because of the high budget of the musical adaptation of ‘The Color Purple‘, the expectations attached to it had also shot up. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter Winfrey said there was speculation that stars as big as Rihanna and Beyoncé may be included in the movie.
In the interview published on Tuesday, the 69-year-old icon said, “To be completely honest about it, if you were doing this film for $30 or $40 million, the interest in the cast would be very different.”
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“It Wasn’t Even A Negotiation”: Oprah Winfrey On Getting Beyoncé On Board
“Once the film moved to $90 to $100 million, then everybody wants us to bring Beyoncé,” Oprah added. She explained that as the budget grew, so did the expectations. Oprah then asserted that there were several talented people who could have been cast, but there were many others too.
“‘Can you get Beyoncé or can you get Rihanna?’ So we’re sitting in a room saying, ‘Listen, we love Beyoncé. We love Rihanna, but there are other actors who can do this job,’” Winfrey said.
Oprah Winfrey is the producer of the movie ‘The Colour Purple‘, which is an adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel. She has also been featured in its 1985 adaptation.
As she opened up further about the thought behind casting these megastars, she said several suggestions came in about why or why not it would be possible to cast Rihanna or Beyonce. She said that many were of the opinion that Beyoncé would “be busy this year” with the recent release of her film ‘Renaissance: A Film‘.
She suggested that it’s out of the question that Beyonce would be on board. “It wasn’t even a negotiation, because you’re not getting Beyoncé.”
A former talk show host and actress, Oprah also confessed that she and other producers, Steven Spielberg and Quincy Jones, sought financial help from Warners Bros to make sure that what they delivered was up to the mark. Both Spielberg and Jones have worked on the original Oscar-nominated film, which is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
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Winfrey Thanks Warner Brothers For Financial Support
“I would have to say that [Warner Bros. co-chairs] Pam [Abdy] and Mike De Luca really got it from the first time they saw the film, and understood that they heard me and heard Steven and heard the team when we said, ‘This is the reason why this has to be done,’ ” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
“You have to give us more money to do this because this is a cultural manifesto in a way for our community, and it deserves to have the support that’s needed to make it what it needs to be,” she added.
Cast members Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks and Taraji P Hensen also accompanied Winfrey during the interview with the Hollywood Reporter. 53-year-old Henson pointed out that there were certain flaws in the original film despite its stature.
“The first movie missed culturally. We don’t wallow in the muck. We don’t stay stuck in our traumas. We laugh, we sing, we go to church, we dance, we celebrate, we fight for joy, we find joy, we keep it. That’s all we have,” Hensen said.
The movie is a star-studded affair with Halle Bailey, Louis Gossett Jr., Corey Hawkins, David Alan Grier, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, H.E.R., Ciara, Jon Batiste and Deon Cole included in the cast. The movie is set to be released on the silver screen on December 25.
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