Behind the Scenes: The Colour Purple

The new screen version of The Colour Purple is neither a remake of Steven Spielberg’s multi-Oscar nominated 1985 film nor a movie of the later Tony Award winning musical. It’s not even a didactic interpretation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 1982 book. The latest adaption of the story about a poor black woman living in the rural South in the early 1900s weaves in elements of them all.

“The way I look at is [Alice Walker] wrote this phenomenal novel that stands on its feet emotionally and historically,” said editor Jon Poll. “Then Steven Spielberg and his band did a cover and then Oprah Winfrey and everyone involved in the Broadway musical did another cover and now it’s time for us to show you our version. It is really different in a lot of ways, but the story is the same and a lot of the same dialogue [from Spielberg’s film] remains.”

Continuity is maintained with Spielberg (who still owns the movie rights) and Winfrey (whose acting debut was the 1985 film) as executive producers along with Quincy Jones who, along with Winfrey, produced the Broadway play.

Although...