Is Whoopi Goldberg In 'The Color Purple' Remake?
Whoopi Goldberg in the original The Color Purple (1985)
Whoopi Goldberg had a major breakout in the original film adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple in 1985.
A working standup comedian at the time, the role of Celie was Goldberg's first leading part in a film and her first turn at a serious drama—but that doesn't mean she necessarily related to the part in the Steven Spielberg hit.
"The way I played Celie was to stand back from her," she explained to Roger Ebert. "There's a theory that an actor should identify with the character. Well, I loved her, but I didn't identify with her. Celie is so far away from me, it was easy to allow her pain to be there, because her life has so little to do with mine."
In the musical The Color Purple remake, Fantasia Barrino plays Celie, the role that made Goldberg a certified movie star. Like Goldberg, it's the American Idol winner's first movie role, but she has experience playing the character from her 2007-2008 Broadway run.
Since Goldberg isn't reprising the role in the new The Color Purple, can we expect her to revisit the film at all? Here's what we know so far about Goldberg's work in The Color Purple (1985) and its 2023 musical redux.
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Was The Color Purple Whoopi Goldberg's first movie?
The Color Purple was indeed Goldberg's film debut, and she was very eager to do this project specifically. Goldberg said she wrote Walker a letter begging to be in the movie adaptation of her book.
"I would play any character. I would play dirt on the floor. I would be a screen door," she recalled to Ebert. "She wrote back and said she knew who I was, she had seen my show in San Francisco, she had already mentioned me to Spielberg."
Goldberg says that Spielberg asked her to perform her one-woman Broadway show for him and "a few of his friends" in Los Angeles.
"A few of his friends! Do you know who his friends are? There were 80 people in the room," she said. "Michael Jackson was there."
She told the American Film Institute that the first scene they filmed for the movie was a nightclub scene.
"The look of wonderment on my face is real because I'm looking around and Steven Spielberg is behind the camera. And [cinematographer] Allen Daviau has put lights in places you'd never think of," she said. "How they made things happen—it was a great experience, it was great to start out with Steven."
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Did Whoopi Goldberg win anything for The Color Purple?
At the time of the movie's release, her co-star Oprah Winfrey gushed that she was a shoo-in for an Oscar, telling Ebert, "Who's her competition? Meryl Streep? I don't care if Meryl break-dances on water, this year it's Whoopi."
Goldberg was indeed nominated for Best Actress for The Color Purple, but lost to Geraldine Page for The Trip to Bountiful. She did, however, win a Golden Globe for Best Actress In a Motion Picture — Drama. Her Oscar came in 1990 for Best Supporting Actress in Ghost.
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Is Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple 2023 remake?
Goldberg hasn't commented publicly on whether or not she's in the 2023 musical reimagining of The Color Purple. She's not listed in the IMDb cast or credits page, but that doesn't mean she won't make a surprise cameo—we'll find out once the film hits theaters on Christmas Day.
It wouldn't be the only prior project Goldberg's re-upped recently: Fans speculated in October 2023 that she was missing The View to work on the upcoming third installment of Sister Act.
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