There’s already been a great film adaptation of Alice Walker’s beloved novel The Color Purple. Steven Spielberg directed it. It helped make Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey into stars. Now there may be two great Color Purple films. On Monday, the trailer for the musical version dropped, and it promises a vibrant and emotional affair.
There are some big names in the cast, and they have big shoes to fill. Fantasia follows in Goldberg’s footsteps as Celie, a young woman trapped in an abusive marriage to Colman Domingo’s “Mister” Johnson (a role first played, terrifyingly, by Danny Glover). Danielle Brooks plays the lifeforce Sofia, a role that netted Winfrey an Oscar nomination. Teraji P. Henson takes over for Margaret Avery as Shug, the showgirl who enters Celie’s life and helps open her up.
The cast also includes Halle Bailey, as the younger version of Celie’s beloved sister Nettie, as well as HER (in her screen acting debut), Jon Batiste (ditto), Corey Hawkins, David Alan Grier, and Louis Gossett Jr.
The latest film, which retains Spielberg, Winfrey, and Quincy Jones as producers, tackles the Broadway musical adaptation, which first bowed in 2005 and returned in 2015.
The new Color Purple movie hits theaters on December 25. You can watch the trailer above.
