Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson discuss their new film 'The Color Purple' as part of EW's Awardist series
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00:00 I was so intimidated by this brilliant woman who I'd seen her play Mahalia Jackson.
00:07 Look, I knew I had to bring it because I was working with this one.
00:09 Oh, cut it out.
00:10 The 2024 Oscars race is in full swing and we are chatting with the actors, creators,
00:23 and more right here on The Awardist.
00:25 Hi everyone, I'm Jared Hall, Entertainment Weekly Executive Editor.
00:28 Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson are just two members of the stellar cast of The New
00:34 Color Purple, a musical reimagining of Alice Walker's acclaimed novel, which counts Oprah
00:40 Winfrey, Oscar-nominated star of the 1985 adaptation, among its producers, along with
00:46 that movie's director, Steven Spielberg.
00:48 Here, Brooks takes on Oprah's role, Sophia, while Henson plays jazz and blues singer Suge
00:54 Avery, who becomes close with Celie on her trip back home from Memphis.
00:58 The two actresses sat down with EW's Lester Brathwaite for an emotional conversation about
01:03 taking on these powerhouse roles and their inspirations, the love story between Suge
01:08 and Celie, finding Sophia's joy, and more.
01:12 So first and foremost, I would like to ask, like, what was your connection to The Color
01:16 Purple before this?
01:17 When did you first see it?
01:18 When did you first read it?
01:19 How did it make you feel?
01:20 My father took me to see, well, I have to say, because we didn't have money like that,
01:24 so I had won this internship, and so we won a trip to New York, and my dad took me to
01:31 see my first Broadway show, which was The Color Purple at 15 years old.
01:36 So I sat there like this, just in awe of this Black cast, because I was doing theater back
01:44 in South Carolina, children's theater and stuff like that, but it was the first time
01:50 I had got a glimpse that I could actually do this professionally.
01:54 I said, "Oh, this could be what I could do.
01:56 I would love to do this."
01:57 And so I just saw so clearly, like, a path for my life.
02:01 And then, you know, I went to Juilliard, studied there.
02:04 Ten years later, after so many no's of other Broadway shows auditioning over and over,
02:11 my first Broadway show where they said yes to me was The Color Purple.
02:15 Yes, so that's kind of my journey with this.
02:20 And both myself and Taraji had to go through an audition process for the movie.
02:26 For me, it was a six-month process, but for both of us, we said we're not going to let
02:32 our egos get in the way of that, and we're going to, you know, tread on, because we knew
02:39 that this was bigger than us.
02:41 And so, yeah, audition for six months.
02:44 I even wrote Blitz a letter because I was so, like, wanting this part.
02:50 When I got that call two days after my birthday from Miss Oprah Winfrey saying she wanted
02:58 to pass the baton to me, I was on the floor.
03:01 My heart was down to my toes.
03:04 I just was so thankful.
03:06 And the first thing that I did was run and tell my husband and then get on my knees and
03:11 pray and thank God for what was about to happen.
03:14 For me, I would have to say, I'm a bit older.
03:16 But for me, you know, when the movie came out, I was just starting to realize that acting
03:27 was something that I loved.
03:28 But what happened was I had auditioned for the School of Fine Arts in D.C. and did not
03:35 get accepted.
03:36 And you know, when you're young, that rejection, I thought that I couldn't act.
03:40 But acting was something that was just in me.
03:42 And even though I went away to North Carolina A&T and I was following behind a friend who
03:46 was really brilliant and she was studying electrical engineering, I was like, I'm going
03:51 to study electrical engineering.
03:52 But that color purple just kept.
03:54 So then now I'm fast forward.
03:58 I finally get rid of my fears and I enroll at Howard University and now I'm there.
04:03 So now we're using actual monologues from the play.
04:07 You know, now I have to go read the book because in my opinion, that's the Bible.
04:11 Flash forward.
04:12 Yes, I want to do that work.
04:14 Never saw myself in the color purple.
04:16 I do a movie called Hustle and Flow.
04:18 Maybe, maybe you didn't.
04:20 And Stephanie Allain produced it.
04:23 Stephanie Allain is married to Stephen Bray, who's musical creator on the Broadway show
04:29 and on this movie.
04:30 But back in the day, he tapped me for sure for Broadway.
04:33 And I was like, hell no, I'm going on my vocal cord.
04:37 But just honestly, I know what it takes to do for eight shows a week.
04:41 And I just knew that my voice wouldn't withstand eight shows a week belting out, you know,
04:46 those songs.
04:47 And so I ran, I ran from Suge and I was like, phew.
04:50 But Destiny was something is yours.
04:55 It's going to find you.
04:56 And sure enough, Suge came back and got me.
04:59 I was doing the pandemic blitz called and told me that I was his Suge and I still thought
05:04 he was crazy.
05:04 I was like, are you sure it's me?
05:07 I was so intimidated by the singing.
05:08 I was grateful because when I first got the script, they were like, you don't have to
05:13 sing Miss Sealy's blues.
05:15 And I was like, oh yeah, I don't have to sing, sister.
05:18 You just got to hum it.
05:19 And I was like, I can do that.
05:20 And then all of a sudden they were like, flag on the play.
05:23 You have to sing it.
05:24 And I was like, what?
05:24 They was like, yeah, Quincy Jones wants his song in the movie.
05:27 And I was like, OK.
05:28 But I was so intimidated by this brilliant woman who I'd seen her play Mahalia Jackson.
05:35 And I knew I had to bring it because I was working with this one.
05:38 Oh, cut it out.
05:39 Thank you.
05:40 But I'm just saying like these instruments that this woman has and then that anointed
05:45 voice that Fantasia has.
05:47 I was just so like Tamela, man.
05:50 I mean, what?
05:51 So but the but what I would have to say is the sisterhood that you see or you feel in
05:57 that film is only because we have it really in real life because they the way they spoke
06:03 into me and encouraged me and just blew the wind under my wing so I could fly like just
06:11 thank you.
06:12 Oh, girl, thank you.
06:13 Seriously.
06:15 Thank you.
06:16 Seriously.
06:17 Now you mentioned Hustle and Flow.
06:18 I remember at the Oscars you sang with Fizik Mafia when they won the Oscar for best song,
06:24 which by the way, great moment in history.
06:25 I knew you could sing, but I don't know you could sang like you're going to sing the house
06:31 down in this movie.
06:32 So it's funny you talk about like how you didn't really like have that much confidence
06:37 in yourself.
06:37 How did you get the confidence to sing in this movie like that?
06:39 Honestly, I'm telling you, it was them like telling me, girl, you could do it.
06:44 What you talking about?
06:44 You crazy.
06:45 You sound amazing because I'm in my head because this is singing is something I can do.
06:49 OK, I can do it.
06:50 Right.
06:51 But when you up, you heard the names like this one Fantasia, Tamela, man, you see the
06:57 names on the soundtrack like I don't sing like that.
07:00 Like that's not something that I practice every day.
07:03 You know, it's not something that I'm as confident in it as my acting because acting,
07:09 that's what I do.
07:10 You know, can I say something, though?
07:11 Yeah.
07:11 First of all, she has an incredible voice.
07:14 She really does.
07:15 And I understand because I was feeling the same way.
07:17 But the thing about music and storytelling and singing is it's really not about the
07:24 notes and singing.
07:25 It's about the storytelling and being a good storyteller through the lyrics.
07:29 And that you have better than some of the best singers in the world is knowing how to
07:35 be a storyteller.
07:36 Thank you.
07:36 And you know what?
07:37 That's actually what my vocal coach taught me.
07:39 And in times when in the studio, when I couldn't, when I felt insecure, not what got in my head,
07:44 they would be like, just just be sure to put some sugar on it.
07:47 And as soon as they said that, I would do it.
07:49 So I would have to say, though, like encouraging words like that and helping me use the
07:55 strengths that I have to transcend into that singing, because that's really what it is.
07:59 It's storytelling.
08:00 You're absolutely right.
08:02 So Danielle, how did you approach change between the Broadway show and the movie?
08:17 Yeah, first of all, it's so much fun, man.
08:21 It was so much fun.
08:22 It's very rare that you get to do both theater and the movie and play the same character.
08:29 So in the beginning, when I was doing the Broadway show, it was just a bare stage, nothing
08:35 but wood, some chairs and your imagination.
08:38 I was using sheets to be a baby, folding it up and it being a baby.
08:43 You know, we didn't have a juke joint.
08:45 I didn't have 10, 11 white men to attack me during the white mob scene.
08:51 I didn't have that stuff.
08:52 So I had to use my imagination, which is fun, but it can be limiting to what you can really
08:56 do.
08:57 So to get to then a few years later, do the film and actually hold a 10 pound baby in
09:04 my hand and actually have 15 white men coming at me and actually be on a plantation and
09:11 seeing the trees and feeling like, thinking how many of our brothers and sisters were
09:16 hung on those trees.
09:17 It changes the game.
09:18 The story gets deeper.
09:20 And to me, that's what I love.
09:23 I love both.
09:24 I love getting to use my imagination, but then I also love actually having the tools
09:29 there and saying, all right, what are we going to do with this?
09:32 And also getting to play with new people was so much fun, new energy, and also having the
09:39 director, Blitz, going with his vision, which I think was at first kind of a little nerve
09:46 wracking for some of the producing team because they were like, do we bring in people that
09:50 are from the original?
09:51 Because maybe they'll be stuck in that idea of what was.
09:55 But luckily they did not do that.
09:57 And me and Fantasia were able to do this.
10:00 Yeah.
10:01 Now, Sugar Avery is one of the great broads in literature.
10:04 Like she's hard drinking, hard living, hard loving.
10:07 And as a Black woman, like the turn of the century too.
10:11 So it's like, that's not necessarily something you see all the time.
10:14 Can you talk about how, what you use for inspiration, like anyone in your life that you might have
10:18 been inspired by and what you learned from playing this character?
10:21 Oh my goodness.
10:24 Oh, I have to start first with my grandmother who's still alive.
10:29 She's about to make a hundred in April.
10:32 And when you think about a woman of this era who carries herself with such class and grace
10:38 and sensuality, and it's very different from the women today.
10:43 Like we, back then there was so much left to the imagination.
10:48 Those women to me, like heroes, to me, that was the sexiest time in fashion.
10:52 Because we left so much to the imagination and because I'm a creative person and I imagine
11:00 a lot, that's why I'm drawn to those women.
11:03 And my mother used to send me to the South every summer.
11:08 I mean, literally it'd be the last day of school and the bell would ring and she'd pull
11:11 up with my stuff in the trunk pack.
11:13 And I'm like, dang, really?
11:14 But I used to hate it as a kid, but I played so many Southern women in my life that you
11:21 always go, you don't know why God, now I understand why I had to be down there by myself with
11:26 no distractions of my other cousins.
11:28 Like I had to sit and study these women.
11:30 So for me, playing Shook started with my grandmother.
11:35 And then when you talk about that sister circle that these women actually end up having, especially
11:40 with Sealy and how Shook shows up and Sealy sees Shook for the first time.
11:46 Shook, even though she's this big personality and she does these big shows and she has so
11:52 many eyeballs on her, they're looking at her for different reasons.
11:55 They're lusting after her.
11:57 They're looking at her because of her beauty, but no one really sees her soul.
12:01 So the first person to really, really, really see her soul was Sealy.
12:05 And Shook was the first person to see her.
12:07 So the way that these women pour into each other, I learned that from my mother and her
12:11 sisters and my mother and her sister circle.
12:14 So all of that stuff I brought to Shook because when you play these roles, like I've never
12:21 lived during that time.
12:22 So sometimes, but the great thing about Alice Walker and the Bible that is called the Color
12:28 Purple, the words are there.
12:30 Like it's all really there.
12:31 It really is all there.
12:33 All you have to do is just say the words and believe in what you're saying.
12:37 And there's the magic.
12:39 But absolutely part of my life experience is going to bleed into my characters, just
12:43 like hers.
12:44 You know, that's what makes her Sophia different from Miss Oprah's.
12:50 This is what makes my Shook different from Margaret Avery's.
12:52 And you got to think about where women are and where we've come in society.
12:56 Like we've opened up the story a little more where we couldn't deal with the same sex kind
13:01 of relationship.
13:02 We kind of shunned it a little bit in the original.
13:04 And this one, we broke that thing wide open because we've advanced in humanity where we
13:11 are at a place finally where we're allowing people to love who the hell they want to love.
13:14 So we were able to really explore that.
13:17 And it wasn't even about sex.
13:18 That was literally about love, the tenderness of love and what that looks like.
13:24 And I think that, oh, that's just beautiful.
13:26 And I think Blitz did an amazing job with that.
13:28 - Yeah.
13:29 Actually, can you talk a bit more about that?
13:31 Because that's one of my favorite parts of this film was how clear you guys made the
13:35 story, the love story between Celie and Shook.
13:39 Can you talk about what it felt like to be part of that?
13:41 - Like when people ask us, you know, why do you think there needed to be a new
13:45 of reimagining or why do you think that it's possible that we can't?
13:49 Again, like I said, we, the Color Purple, the original, the book, I call it the Bible,
13:55 right?
13:56 People will ask, did you watch the original movie?
13:58 Yeah.
13:59 Years ago, I'm a great mimicker, so I can't watch a remake if I'm about to play that
14:03 character because I'll mimic.
14:04 I know that about my instrument.
14:06 So whenever I had questions or I was unclear, I just went back to the Bible because it's
14:10 all there.
14:11 What I found interesting about this relationship is that there was a lot of guilt in Shook
14:18 because this woman's raising her kids.
14:21 See, people forget that.
14:22 We don't really talk about it.
14:23 It's not in the movie like that.
14:24 But when you read the book, she has kids with Mister.
14:27 Even that relationship with Mister is a bit sordid and twisted because she's it's like
14:32 revenge love with her.
14:34 She does.
14:34 She comes and leaves in and out of his life because he shunned her twice.
14:38 He didn't marry her when his wife died and he didn't marry her when he didn't marry
14:42 her the first time when she had the kids.
14:44 And then when his wife died, he married Celie.
14:46 He didn't come back for her.
14:48 So there's a lot of guilt and revenge love there.
14:52 But again, that relationship, because we are where we are in society, thankfully, we were
15:01 able to explore it more.
15:02 And it's necessary because I think when people think about, you know, love, the first
15:09 thing sometimes they go straight to sex, you know, and sometimes love is not coming from
15:14 your partner.
15:15 Sometimes that love, that unconditional, that love that you really, really need, that's
15:19 going to that's going to grow you and nurture you.
15:22 It might not be coming from that significant.
15:24 It might very well come from a woman.
15:27 Somebody to say, doesn't mean you have to lay down with this woman or have sex.
15:30 It's the tenderness of love, the unconditioned when it's unconditional, is raw and a person
15:37 sees you and all your flaws and they still choose to love you.
15:41 We don't see it enough.
15:43 We don't see it enough because anytime in the story, in a movie, yes, it's love.
15:48 But then all of a sudden they end up in a bed, you know, and it's literally the sex
15:53 is like, oh, you know, I need you to love me from a deeper place because sex is fleeting.
16:01 You have it.
16:02 The orgasm is like, oh, you know, but the love is everlasting.
16:06 The love is what you take when the person is passed on.
16:08 You still have that love in your heart.
16:10 So I mean, in times like now, we need to really showcase love more right now anyway, because
16:18 this world.
16:18 Yeah.
16:20 Danielle, your character goes through such a huge emotional arc, bringing this strong,
16:26 powerful, inspiring woman to like that awful attack and how it changes her and she's in
16:31 jail and she comes out at the end, she finds her strength, she finds her joy at that dinner
16:36 table.
16:37 Can you talk about that scene and how important it is for Sophia to find her joy and what
16:41 you felt playing that?
16:42 Oh yeah.
16:44 How I felt, I wrote in my journal after these 70 plus days of playing Sophia, I am depleted.
16:51 I'm so tired.
16:53 It physically took a toll on me.
16:56 It mentally tried to take a toll on me.
16:58 But I would do it again in a heartbreak because the importance of this character is so crucial
17:08 to humanity, to who we are, to learning more about ourselves, to getting back up.
17:14 How I got into all of the depths of Sophia truly was about calling on the ancestors for
17:24 me.
17:24 In my trailer, I would have about 20 pictures of women that inspired me or that I connected
17:33 to with this character, like Fannie Lou Hamer, like Oprah, like Eliza Woods, which was a
17:39 woman who, a Black woman that was hung in the 1930s.
17:43 So I spent time with them.
17:46 I called on them, my grandmother, my great grandmother.
17:49 And to be honest, the scene in the jail and the scene in the dinner table, it felt like
17:58 I had to perch myself in a graveyard full of my ancestors of Black women and listen
18:05 to them whisper all of their pain and hurt.
18:10 And I wanted people to really see us as Black women.
18:13 We carry so much pain.
18:15 There's so much hurt there.
18:17 And it sometimes comes off as angry or trying to be controlling.
18:22 But there is so much going on inside of us.
18:24 And I wanted people to see the humanity of who we are.
18:27 But I can't do that alone.
18:31 And we tried to do that alone twice because in that dinner scene, we tried to shoot it
18:37 with nobody at the table, but Kory and myself and a bunch of stand-ins because someone had
18:45 gotten COVID in the cast.
18:48 So I had to do that scene three times on three different occasions or three different occasions,
18:54 three different days, because the second time someone caught COVID again.
18:58 And so, you know, I tried to do it by myself the same way Miss Oprah actually did "You
19:06 Told Hoppo to Beat Me" to a clipboard because Whoopi couldn't be there when she shot it
19:12 in 1985.
19:13 But there's something about having everybody in that space.
19:18 There's something that you have to have, the connectivity that really brings that scene
19:23 together.
19:25 And so I had to do it three times.
19:27 I had to call on the ancestors.
19:29 And the hard thing about what we do is like when you do deep, heavy work, your body does
19:39 not know that you're acting.
19:42 So when you release that thing, it's really hard to come back into it.
19:47 So to have to keep doing that over and over, I had to lean on my cast.
19:51 We felt so hard.
19:52 I had to lean on them.
19:54 But it was so, so, so, so worth it because at the end of the day, it's truly about, to
20:05 me, people being seen, people being felt, people being heard, whether that be through
20:11 Sophia or whether that be through Danielle.
20:16 And so for me, I did not want to fail that little girl that came to see me in particular
20:24 and said, "I see myself in Danielle Brooks," and let her down.
20:28 So that's why it was so important to me to try to do my best and give it everything I
20:34 had, no matter how many PT sessions and chiropractors I had to see.
20:40 But that's another story for another day.
20:42 [LAUGHTER]
20:45 Now, the director of Blitz told me a few weeks ago when I interviewed him that he cast people
20:50 that he knew would do their flowers.
20:51 And he's very excited to see how--
20:55 [LAUGHTER]
21:02 And he was very excited to see what this movie does for both of you, especially, for the
21:06 cast in general.
21:08 Can you talk about how this film might change the way people, the industry might see you?
21:13 And what is the opportunity you have to show all these different gifts that you have?
21:19 What it means to have an opportunity?
21:21 For me, being in this industry for over two decades and being the age that I am, 53, and
21:30 still being able to experience moments like this, not only just experience moments like
21:37 this, but still surprise my fans with something else.
21:41 You know what I mean?
21:41 I had one come up to me and one of them was like, what else-- what can't you do?
21:47 You know what I mean?
21:48 And just to see the surprise.
21:50 These fans have been following me since baby boy.
21:55 And they've been riding with me.
21:57 And the fact that I have the joy in my heart to really surprise them with something else
22:02 is really beautiful and a beautiful part of this journey.
22:06 And I'm grateful.
22:07 I really am.
22:08 Because I didn't see this for myself.
22:11 And it was Blitz who saw it in me and spoke into me like my father would speak into me,
22:17 who I lost in '06.
22:19 And when somebody speaks in you and they believe in you like that, you want to show up and
22:25 you want to make them proud.
22:26 And he did that for all of-- because he believed in all of us.
22:30 No one really wanted us.
22:33 You heard her say she waited six months before they said yes.
22:36 Because literally, if they want you, they hire you right away.
22:40 You know what I mean?
22:40 We not stupid.
22:41 We know how it works.
22:42 So he believed in all the little engines that could.
22:46 And it's like I've been doing this for two decades.
22:51 And there are times where I just want to quit because I'm tired of fighting.
22:56 And what pains my heart is that I don't want to hear these babies
23:03 have the same fight.
23:04 I really-- my prayer is that the work and the fight and the struggle is to make it easier
23:12 for them.
23:12 Because I was the little girl that wished and saw these women, these incredible women.
23:18 I want to do that one day.
23:19 And then you start doing.
23:20 And you know how hard it is for us.
23:23 And I'm like, how can I make it different?
23:25 How can I make it better?
23:26 So that this little girl out there that's like, I want to do that.
23:29 I don't want to have to--
23:31 I don't want to hear her talk about the same things that me and my sisters have been fighting
23:37 for for so many years.
23:38 This is bigger than me.
23:40 This is bigger than us.
23:41 You know, if I'm not in a position to make it better, but those coming behind me, what
23:47 am I doing?
23:48 What am I doing?
23:49 Is it just for vanity?
23:50 Art saves lives.
23:53 Art changes lives.
23:54 I know how important this craft that we've been blessed with.
23:59 I know how important this is to humanity.
24:01 And the devil knows it.
24:03 That's why they're taking arts out of schools, particularly Black schools and public schools.
24:10 Because that has been a way out for us for so long.
24:13 And so I get this position, this coveted position in this industry that never gives us a break.
24:21 And sometimes I just get so enraged because it's like, I've done all of this.
24:27 Well, what about all of this?
24:28 That doesn't count for anything.
24:29 It's almost like every time I got to start from scratch.
24:32 Are you paying attention?
24:33 I hear you.
24:34 It's definitely a struggle for Black people in general, but I think Black women especially
24:40 in this industry.
24:40 What about you, Danielle?
24:42 How do you feel about that?
24:42 I never compete with Black women.
24:44 I'm never going to talk down to a Black woman.
24:47 I can't.
24:49 Can I just say, one of my favorite moments is like the Golden Globes when Biola Davis
24:55 won and you--
24:56 The Emmy.
24:56 The Emmy, sorry.
24:58 And you two hug each other.
24:59 I love that meme, I love that, Jeff, because that's what it's about, right?
25:03 Absolutely.
25:05 And you know what bothered me?
25:06 That was a headline.
25:08 Why is that a headline?
25:09 Oh, God.
25:10 It was Taraji P. Henson hugs Biola.
25:12 What else am I going to do?
25:13 I'm happy for her.
25:14 That's what I would do for any friend that--
25:16 You understand what I'm saying?
25:19 It bothered me that that was a headline.
25:21 And you could hear the hush in the room.
25:22 Everybody was like, "Oh!"
25:23 Like, what?
25:24 You don't do that for your friends?
25:27 Yeah.
25:27 Like, this is what it should look like.
25:29 This is how it should be.
25:31 We root for each other.
25:32 When you win, we all win.
25:33 And I think that's what this movie is about, right?
25:36 Absolutely.
25:38 My journey has been interesting.
25:41 When I graduated Juilliard, I really didn't know how I was going to fit into Hollywood.
25:47 I didn't know, do I straighten my hair?
25:50 Do I keep it curly?
25:52 I can't change the color of my skin, so I'm going to rock with the dark skin and try to
25:56 be proud of that.
25:57 And do I lose weight?
25:59 Do I gain weight?
26:00 I didn't know.
26:00 And I stayed true to myself.
26:04 And then "Orange is the New Black" came around, and I was able to be authentically myself.
26:12 No makeup.
26:12 Didn't have to wear no Spanx to work.
26:15 I got to be myself.
26:17 But not only that, I got to do that alongside four, five, six other Black women that looked
26:25 like me.
26:25 That had similar energies.
26:27 And it reminded me that there is room for all of us.
26:30 But this industry is very difficult.
26:34 And I did seven years on that show and struggled with not being recognized when it came down
26:47 to the Emmys.
26:50 I felt like unseen, like I was doing great work, but just felt like not good enough.
27:02 So I had to do some personal, deep, internal work on what you talked about.
27:11 Why are we doing this?
27:14 And so it's so encouraging when some young woman talks to you on the street and says,
27:22 you know, I watched you on that show and seeing you made me think I could do this, or I saw
27:29 myself in you.
27:30 And it reminded me that's really what this all is about, helping other people find their
27:36 purpose.
27:39 And so I'm not going to sit here and say I don't ever hope to get to stand on a stage
27:48 and thank a bunch of people.
27:50 I dream of that, too.
27:51 But at the end of the day, I know my worth.
27:58 I validate myself.
28:02 And my purpose is to be a light for someone else to find theirs.
28:09 So as long as I stay focused on that, guys gonna make a way regardless.
28:17 - Because I still don't understand how you put five brilliant performances up next and
28:21 go, this one is the best.
28:22 I still, like, you know, I get it.
28:25 But it's hard.
28:26 How do you do artists so subjectively?
28:28 - It's hard.
28:29 But even choosing an artist for a role, you know, and so you have to have tough skin in
28:36 this industry and you have to really trust that what is for you won't miss you.
28:41 And my biggest thing that I've been, like, you know, marinating on is like, if God promised
28:47 you something, do not rush the fulfillment of that promise.
28:51 It will come to pass.
28:53 And most, not most of the time, every time, it's always better than when you imagined
28:59 it in your head.
29:00 And your small brain is always greater His plan.
29:04 So just rock with it, roll with it, and keep preparing for that moment when it presents
29:09 itself.
29:10 - Yeah, do the work because all that stuff will come.
29:12 You know, focus on the work.
29:15 - Thank you both so much.
29:17 This has been so great.
29:18 I love talking to you both.
29:20 Can you just tell me, like, what you hope audiences take away from this film?
29:23 - We always say people are gonna take away because they identify with who they identify,
29:28 what story they identify, who's, we don't, you know, people are gonna take away what
29:32 they take away.
29:33 But what I do hope is that people see beyond black skin.
29:39 I pray that people see themselves in this piece of work because it transcends color,
29:48 race, religion, gender.
29:50 This is a story about humanity.
29:52 This is about people who are flawed, who have surrendered to this life, who have surrendered
30:01 to their flaws, decided to, because they have breath in their bodies, they can make a change.
30:07 It's about redemption.
30:08 Some say, you know, Fantasia, our leading lady, loves to say that people will be healed.
30:16 And I believe that because they will identify with a lot of aspects of this story.
30:22 But they're gonna take away what they need to take away in their healing, in their journey
30:27 of healing.
30:28 You know, for me, I took away what I always have in my heart, the power of sisterhood.
30:35 You know, women are change makers in the community.
30:38 And if we're good, the men are gonna be good.
30:41 You know, I love how Blitz handles and nurtures our black men in this film, even in their
30:49 flaws.
30:50 They're human.
30:51 There's so much to take away, you know, take away what you will.
30:55 But I hope what you take away is some healing and some forgiveness.
30:59 And you ain't like Oprah said, you don't have to forgive the person and love them and let
31:03 them back in your life, but you forgive them to set yourself free.
31:06 That's right.
31:07 I second everything she said.
31:09 But, you know, I think of really strong people, too, like people that don't let the world
31:18 know that they've been victimized or that they have a lot going on.
31:22 I pray for their healing, but I also want them to know when they fall like Sophia did,
31:29 that they too can get back up again.
31:31 I think both of us in this industry have had to do that over and over and over and over
31:37 again.
31:38 And that's why I'm grateful for this story, because as much as it's touching other people's
31:42 lives, it continues to heal us from the pains and things that we have gone through in our
31:49 personal lives, but also in this industry.
31:51 Yeah.
31:52 Got a little teary eyed with that one.
31:54 The Color Purple is in theaters on Christmas Day, and we have more Color Purple for you
31:59 on The Awardist podcast, where you can check out my interview with Oprah and star Fantasia
32:05 Barrino.
32:06 That is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
32:09 And that is it for this week's episode of The Awardist.
32:11 If you like what you're watching here, be sure to subscribe to Entertainment Weekly
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32:26 You can also tag me @JaredHall.
32:28 Thanks so much for watching, and be sure to check out all of our Awardist coverage at
32:32 EW.com.
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