The Color Purple hits theaters on December 25.
The cast of The Color Purple sat down with the original film's star, Whoopi Goldberg, on The View today.
Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and director Blitz Bazawule sat down with the original Celie, along with Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin, to discuss the upcoming movie musical.
The interview marked the first time that Goldberg and Barrino have met to discuss the movie. The American Idol alum started by opening up about why she was hesitant to take on the film after playing Celie on Broadway.
"Her walk is not an easy walk and she carries a lot. She carries everybody and at the time when I was doing Broadway, I was carrying everybody and my life was so much like Celie's, so I guess I just went back to that," Barrino-Taylor began. "I'm glad that I did it because I'm not that girl anymore and I got to see so many different things in Celie."
Henson also shared that she had been "scared" to play Shug Avery, revealing that she turned down the opportunity to play the role on Broadway.
"What scared me back then was, 'Singing next to who? Fantasia? I'll pass,'" Henson laughed. "I know my vocal chords. I just knew I couldn't sing eight shows a week. I just knew that. So I ran, but [Shug Avery] found me. I guess what gave me the courage this time was Blitz because he just believed in me so much."
Brooks, who was nominated for the Tony Award for playing Sofia on Broadway in the 2016 revival, stated the personal connection she had to the musical after first seeing it.
"When I was 15-year-old, my father took me to see The Color Purple because it was really the only Black Broadway show that was out besides The Lion King, and he took me to see it in 2005 and I was mesmerized because I, for the first time, saw people that looked like me. The whole cast was Black and living in who they are. It was just a moment for me," the recent Golden Globe nominee shared.
The Color Purple also stars Colman Domingo, Halle Bailey, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Phylicia Peal Mpasi, and more. It is set to hit theaters on December 25.
"It's a wonderful thing. It's an amazing piece of work and it has always been," Goldberg said. "We've said to people, 'There is no black, there is no white, there are just people and these are stories that can happen in Thailand, that can happen in Ireland, it can happen here in the U.S., it happens everywhere. But it is what we do with it and I am so excited for y'all."
Watch the interview clips here:
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