Actresses starring in the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple recently discussed how God impacted their lives while filming the movie that was released nationwide on Christmas Day. This adaptation is yet another remake following the 1985 Steven Spielberg-directed film starring Oprah Winfrey as Sofia and Broadway adaptations in 2005 and 2015.
The new version stars Fantasia Barrino as Celie, Danielle Brooks as Sofia and other A-list celebrities like Taraji P. Henson, Louis Gossett Jr., and Halle Bailey. In a recent interview moderated by filmmaker and preacher DeVon Franklin, Oprah and the ladies of the cast shared how the film spiritually impacted them. Henson said when asked how the film will bless viewers, “I would like to hope and pray that people know and understand that we don’t have space for cancel culture in humanity. Because if Mister was a real man today and all of what he did to Celie was blasted all over Instagram, he’d be canceled!”
Henson added, “What a horrible ending for him because then there’s no time for him to redeem himself, for him to own up to what he did wrong and make amends. How can we judge people? Who are we to say one sin is worse than the other? How do I throw a stone and I’m living in a glass house? We all live in glass houses! If Jesus can forgive, what makes you think you can’t?”
According to the film’s synopsis, the new adaptation shows “the life-long struggles of an African American woman living in the South during the early 1900s.” The movie promises to be a “bold new take on the beloved classic” about “the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond.” Oprah said the original movie, released around 40 years ago, taught her to no longer look to her dreams but instead to look out for God’s dreams.
During Franklin’s interview, Oprah, Henson, Barrino and Brooks all broke out in worship as the mogul recalled singing when she received the call to star in the 1985 classic. They belted out “I Surrender All.” Oprah told Franklin, “I was praying that song, singing that song. When I finally let it go, the woman runs out, and she says, ‘There’s a phone call for you.’ It was Steven Spielberg calling to let me know that I should get off the weight loss forum and come to the Amblin offices.”
She declared, “That moment of surrendering taught me that you do the work, you wish, you pray, and then you let it go. You just surrender all, and God can dream a bigger dream for you than you could ever dream for yourself. What ‘The Color Purple’ taught me is to hand my dreams over to God. I actually stopped dreaming. I stopped dreaming.”
Winfrey continued, “And I said, ‘God, you tell me what the dream you have for me. What you want that dream to be, and I will just live the dream. So if you asked me how am I doing right now, I’m living in God’s dream.” Oprah has said in the past that Jesus and the Bible are her primary sources of faith. However, she has heavily promoted universalism and New Age thinkers, and once said there are many ways to Heaven that are not through faith in Jesus Christ.