Oprah Winfrey marks The Color Purple’s 35th anniversary with a post about how she ‘never wanted anything in my life more’ than to be in that film
She made her feature film debut in the critically acclaimed film The Color Purple 35 years ago, scoring her first Oscar nomination in the process.
And to mark the anniversary, media queen Oprah Winfrey took to her Instagram this week to share some reflections about how she came to play the role of Sofia in the Steven Spielberg-directed film, including two video clips as well.
The first clip was a snippet from the film itself, showing one of the pinnacle moments of Winfrey‘s iconic performance in the film opposite Whoopi Goldberg.
’35 years ago today, #TheColorPurple premiered. I’ve never wanted anything in my life more than I wanted to be in that movie,’ Oprah, 66, wrote.
‘When I read the book the first time, I bought copies to hand them out to people. I told everyone I wanted to be in the movie. It was that deep. And one faithful morning, @quincyjones saw me on AM Chicago, said I should audition, and the rest is movie history!’ she continued.
‘So here’s to the powerful messages I still carry from that movie. And for all the moviegoers who still recite this scene to me until this day!’
To mark the 35th anniversary of The Color Purple: Media queen Oprah Winfrey took to her Instagram this week to share some reflections about how she came to play the role of Sofia
She concluded the post with three purple heart emojis, before reminding her 19.2m followers that ‘The Color Purple is available at participating digital retailers.’
The second clip in Winfrey‘s post was from a 1998 episode of her talk show, in which a very enthusiastic audience member gave her his best rendition of Sofia.
In the film based on the Alice Walker novel, Oprah played an abused wife who finally stands up to her husband.
In the film based on the Alice Walker novel: Oprah played an abused wife who finally stands up to her husband
The Color Purple went on to be nominated for 11 Academy Awards after its release in December 1985.
However, the film did not earn a single trophy, which to this day causes controversy.
Other iterations of the story have met with great success in the years since, including two theatrical Broadway musical productions.
A filmic adaptation of the musical is currently in the works, with Oprah attached as a producer.
The Color Purple went on to be nominated for 11 Academy Awards after its release in December 1985: However, the film did not earn a single trophy, causing controversy; Akosua Busia, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rae Dawn Chong on the set of the film