The Color Purple trailer shows off all-star cast including The Little Mermaid’s Halle Bailey
The Little Mermaid’s Halle Bailey is among an all-star cast in The Color Purple.(Warner Bros.)
The full-length trailer for The Color Purple has dropped to major buzz, and fans have shared their excitement over the pitch-perfect casting and stunning visuals.
Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning 1982 lesbian novel is a literary classic, and Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated 1985 film adaptation inspired Marsha Norman’s Tony-winning Broadway musical revival.
Now a movie version of the musical is set to hit the big screen later this year, with Spielberg, Quincy Jones and star of the 1985 film, Oprah Winfrey, serving as producers. Directed by Blitz Bazawule, the film’s the all-star cast brings this “bold new take on a beloved classic” to life.
The story, set in the early 1900s, follows “the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond”.
Early on, young devoted sisters Nettie, played by The Little Mermaid‘s Halle Bailey, and Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, a writer on Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies) are separated after the latter’s forced marriage to the abusive Mister (Fear the Walking Dead‘s Colman Domingo).
Once older, Celie (played by 2004 American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, reprising her Broadway role) forms a close bond with her stepson Harpo’s confident new wife Sofia (Orange is the New Black star Danielle Brooks).
But Celie’s life is turned on its head by the arrival of Mister’s charismatic mistress and dazzling jazz singer Shug Avery (Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson) to whom she is inexplicably drawn.
The trailer for The Color Purple, released by Warner Bros. on Tuesday (10 October), gives fans a first look at the coming-of-age period drama. It is packed with emotional punches, beautiful costumes, vibrant musical numbers and a gorgeous chemistry between the lead actors as it celebrates the power of female love.
One moment shows a heart-felt exchange between Nettie and Celie where they tell each other: “Even if we have to part, us have one heart.” Elsewhere, Henson bursts on to the screen in a feathery red dress ensemble, ready for her big solo number, “Push Da Button.”
The moving tale features some of the biggest and best Black actors around today – including BlacKkKlansman‘s Corey Hawkins, Stephen Hill, who plays TC in the Magnum P.I. reboot and veteran star Louis Gossett Jnr – and has left fans sharing their excitement across social media.
“Every time I see a traile,r I get excited.. they really did amazing picking this cast,” one person wrote.
Another said: “The casting is too perfect. I loved the original movie and this adaptation looks like a perfect companion to the Broadway version. Can’t wait.”
The Color Purple is due to open in US cinemas on Christmas Day and in the UK on 26 January, 2024.
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