Did You Know: 10 Little Known Facts About ‘The Color Purple’ [Gallery]

1.
Alice
Walker
Didn’t
Want
Steven
Spielberg
To
Direct

Source:Getty

Alice
Walker’s
Pulitzer
Prize-winning
1982
novel
is
what
inspired
the
critically-acclaimed
film.
Though
the
movie
went
on
to
become
quite
successful,
Walker
wasn’t
convinced
Steven
Spielberg
could
handle
the
dramatic
material
being
a
White
male.
Walker
told
producer
Quincy
Jones
the
movie
should
be
directed
by
someone
who
had
experience
with
being
Black
in
America
and
even
Spielberg
agreed.
The
director
reportedly
told
Jones
he
wasn’t
the
right
person
for
the
job,
to
which
Jones
replied:
“I
want
you
to
do
it,
and
besides,
did
you
have
to
be
an
alien
to
direct
‘E.T.
the
Extra-Terrestrial’?”

2.
Shug
Avery
Could’ve
Starred
A
Music
Legend

Source:Getty

Chaka
Khan
and
Tina
Turner
both
turned
down
the
role
of
Shug
Avery
which
eventually
went
to
Margaret
Avery.

3.
How
Whoopi
Goldberg
Landed
Her
Audition

Source:Getty

At
the
time,
Whoopi
Goldberg
was
known
most
for
her
work
as
a
stand-up
comedian
when
she
heard
about
auditions
for

The
Color
Purple.
She
believed
she
would
be
the
perfect
fit
to
play
Sofia,
so
she
invited
Walker
to
come
see
her
perform
stand-up.
The
invite
led
to
her
invitation
to
audition. 

Goldberg
staged
an
unconventional
audition,
delivering
a
comedy
set
about
E.T.
getting
arrested
for
drug
possession.

She
recalled
the
moment
to
Howard
Stern
in
2020:
“I
went
to
Steven’s
studio,
and
then
I
peeked
out,
you
know,
from
behind
the
curtain,
and
there
are
all
kinds
of
people
—
Quincy
Jones
and
Michael
Jackson
and
just
all
these
people
who
were
watching
me
perform,
and
I
just
felt
like,
‘I
hope
I’m
good.’
Because
all
those
people
that
were
there,
including
Steven,
were
people
who
I
had
always
dreamed
about.”

4.
Award-Winning
Debuts

Source:Getty

The
film
became
both
Whoopi
Goldberg
and
Oprah
Winfrey’s
debut
acting
performances.
Both
women
earned
Academy
Award
nominations
for
their
performances,
as
did
co-star
Margaret
Avery.

The
Color
Purple
is
the
first
film
to
have
three
Black
actors
of
any
gender
nominated
for
an
Academy
Award.

Record
breaking! 

5.
Oprah
Didn’t
Think
She
Got
The
Part

Source:Getty

Oprah
Winfrey
hadn’t
heard
back
from
producers
for
some
time
and
figured
she
didn’t
get
casted
for
the
part.
She
decided
to
enroll
in
a
weight
loss
camp
in
Wisconsin,
only
to
get
the
call
that
she
had
been
cast
and
if
she
wanted
to
keep
the
part,
she
was
instructed
not
to
lose
any
weight.

6.
Oprah
Had
To
Unlearn
Her
TV
Ways

Source:Getty

The
film
was
a
bit
of
a
learning
curve
for
Oprah
Winfrey.
It
took
Winfrey
some
time
to
adapt
to
a
film
set.
She
had
experience
as
a
daytime
TV
host
on

A.M.
Chicago,
where
she
created
a
habit
of
looking
directly
into
the
camera
when
delivering
dialogue. 

When
prompted
by
Spielberg,
Winfrey
ad-libbed
her
lines
around
the
dinner
table
scene
with
Whoopi
Goldberg.
It
is
said
that
when
the
scene
ended,
Goldberg
walked
over
to
Winfrey,
gave
her
a
hug,
and
reportedly
told
her
she
was
now
officially
an
actress.

7.
Transformed
Steven
Spielberg’s
Career

Source:Getty

Spielberg
cites

The
Color
Purple
as
the
turning
point
in
his
career,
as
his
first
“serious
drama.”
It
paved
the
way
for
his
later
films

Empire
Of
The
Sun
and

Schindler’s
List.

8.
So
Many
Awards

Source:Getty

The
film
made
an
Oscar
record,
receiving
a
total
of
11
Academy
Award
nominations.
The
dram
was
the
first
PG-13
rated
movie
to
be
nominated
for
the
Best
Picture
Oscar
award. 

Ultimately,
the
film
went
home
empty-handed
with
Sydney
Pollack’s

Out
Of
Africa
claiming
the
Best
Picture
prize.
The
film
remains
tied
with
1977’s

The
Turning
Point
for
the
film,
with
the
most
Oscar
nominations
without
winning
a
single
award.

9.
The
Controversy

Source:Getty

Of
course
with
any
great
film
comes
controversy.

The
film
faced
criticism,
especially
for
its
harsh
portrayal
of
Black
men.
Spielberg
also
caved
into
the
pressures
from
adapting
an
explicit
lesbian
relationship
between
Shug
and
Celie
found
in
the
original
Walker
book,
reducing
the
scene
to
a
kiss
between
the
two
women.

On
the
film’s
25th
anniversary,
Spielberg
admitted
that
while
he
wouldn’t
have
changed
the
kiss
in
the
film,
he
was
definitely
“shy”
about
the
sexual
encounters
in
the
book.
He
eventually
decided
that
the
kiss
was
appropriate
for
his
adaptation
and
the
movie’s
PG-13
rating.

10.
One
More
Time

Source:Getty

Alice
Walker
wasn’t
impressed
with
the
final
cut
of
the
film
initially,
and
she
was
particularly
displeased
with
the
opening
sequence.
However,
after
watching
the
film
again
at
the
premiere,
Walker
changed
her
mind.