HER to make acting debut in ‘The Color Purple’ musical for Warner Bros

New Delhi, India

The Oscar-winning singer-songwriter HER is all set to make a career shift. 

The 'Best Part' and 'Focus' singer will make her film acting debut with Warner Bros. adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical 'The Color Purple', and the diva is reportedly in he final stages of negotiation with the company. 

As per the THR, it is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel by Alice Walker, on which the Oscar-nominated Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 movie was based. 

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The 'Black Is King' filmmaker Blitz Bazawule will helm the musical. Marcus Gardley is writting the screenplay, adapted from Marsha Norman’s book and Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray’s score.  

The story centers on a woman named Celie Harris and tracks her life-long struggles as an African-American woman living in the South during the early 1900s. HER will play Squeak, who, in the musical, goes from a juke joint waitress to an aspiring singer. Rae Dawn Chong played the role in the original Spielberg feature.

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Oprah Winfrey, who made her feature acting debut in Spielberg’s 'The Color Purple', is producing the movie under her Harpo Films banner and Spielberg under his Amblin Entertainment. Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones, both of whom were behind the Broadway musical, will also produce. 

Walker, Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini, Adam Fell, and Mara Jacobs executive producing.

The movie will release on Dec. 20, 2023.