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fantasia barrino, danielle brooks,

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Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks are members of an all-star cast of the next film adaptation of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. They both have starred in The Color Purple on Broadway and will be reprising their roles in the film. Barrino played Celie on Broadway in 2007 while Brooks played Sofia in 2015 when the show hit Broadway again. Brooks snagged a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for her portrayal of Sofia.

Brooks recently posted a video on social media of when she found out she was casted and she couldn’t hold back the tears of joy. In the video, she thinks she is about to meet with the director Blitz Bazawule and her mouth drops with Oprah Winfrey, who played Sofia in the 1985 film, appears on the screen to tell her she has been chosen for the role.

“Blessing upon blessings,” she tweeted. “So grateful to announce I’ll be playing Sofia in the upcoming Color Purple movie. Here’s a clip of how I found out I got the part from Oprah herself.”

The Orange is the New Black star shared that she was “beyond grateful” to Winfrey for trusting her to portray such a “powerhouse of a woman.”

“She put her foot in that role and helped to change so many lives. I pray to do the same,” she captioned the video on Instagram. “The journey to getting to this moment was very humbling but I wouldn’t change it for the world!! I can’t wait to share Sofia with this next generation!!”

Winfrey will be serving as a producer on the film alongside Steven Spielberg, who directed the film in 1985.

Barrino also shared the moment she found out she was chosen to play Celie via social media. In the video, she is receiving the news via a phone call and is teary-eyed and smiling ear to ear.

“The last time I stepped into this character, the similarities between what I portrayed on stage and what I experienced in my own reality were too close for comfort,” she wrote on social media. “I’ve learned since then that my pain was only an introduction to a greater purpose of meaning and assignment. I hope that every little black girl who is fighting to be heard and recognized also promises to never give up in spite of the costs.”

News of Barrino and Brooks being members of the cast comes days after it was revealed that Taraji P. Henson would be playing Shug Avery. The cast also includes Halle Bailey, H.E.R and Corey Hawkins. The Color Purple will be released in theaters Dec. 20, 2023.

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