As has become common for musicals spun off from movies, another stage show is closing the circle, headed itself for the screen. In this case, it's The Color Purple as a team including Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones and Broadway veteran Scott Sanders are producing a movie version of the musical.
Spielberg was in the director's chair for the 1985 film version, which adapted Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel. The story follows the journey of Celie, an African-American woman in the deep South from the early to mid-20th century. Celie struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her stepfather, husband, and others over the course of four decades. Winfrey starred in the film alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Margaret Avery, with the three actresses scoring Oscar nominations alongside the movie's Best Picture and Jones' twin nominations for the score and the original song 'Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)'. And the musical has been just as garlanded, with the Broadway run earning 11 Tony noms in 2006. Marsha Norman wrote the show's book, while the music and lyrics came from Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell and Alee Willis.
It's early days for this new movie adaptation, and none of the major elements are in place yet. Though one potential name for a future casting choice is Bad Times At The El Royale's Cynthia Erivo, who starred in the 2016 revival on Broadway and won a Tony in the process...
Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire on Great Magazines and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.