I love the original 1985 film The Color Purple. Whenever it’s on TV, I get caught up in a rewatch. Steven Spielberg was criticized heavily for adapting Alice Walker’s book for the screen, but I still think Spielberg did an amazing job with the material and the casting was wonderful. All of which might explain why my general reaction to the musical remake of Walker’s book is “blah.” I’m loyal to the original film, even though the reviews of the new musical adaptation are pretty great. As the actors have promoted the musical film, I’ve developed a new reason to avoid it though – it sounds like the actors were treated like sh-t, they weren’t paid properly and they weren’t taken care of by the producers whatsoever. Taraji P. Henson plays Shug Avery, and Taraji has been really open about how poorly the cast was treated in multiple interviews:

Taraji P. Henson said in a recent interview with The New York Times that she and her co-stars on “The Color Purple” got “a lot of stuff on that set” because she fought for it behind the scenes. One such example was rides and security to the film’s Atlanta set, as the production allegedly offered the cast rental cars at first and expected the actors to drive themselves to set.

“They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous. Now they robbing people. What do I look like, taking myself to work by myself in a rental car?” Henson said. “So I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?’ I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, ‘Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.’ Well, do it for everybody! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for. I was on the set of ‘Empire’ fighting for trailers that wasn’t infested with bugs.”

“It wears on your soul because you fight so hard to establish a name for yourself and be respected in this town to no avail,” Henson continued. “With Black films, they just don’t want to take us overseas and I don’t understand that. Black translates all over the world, so why wouldn’t the movies? I have a following in China of all places. Y’all not going to capitalize on that? Don’t everybody want to make money here? I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time, but what else is it, then? Tell me. I’d rather it not be race, please give me something else.”

A driver wasn’t the only thing Henson had to speak up to get on “The Color Purple” set. During a recent Q&A for the film presented by THR, Danielle Brooks revealed the actors did not initially get their own dressing rooms when they showed up for rehearsals, nor was food provided to them at that time. Henson contacted producer Oprah Winfrey to correct this. Brooks called Henson a “guide” and “our voice box” on set.

“I remember when we first came and we’re doing rehearsals, they put us all in the same space,” Brooks said. “We didn’t have our own dressing rooms at the time. We didn’t have our own food…[Oprah] corrected it for us. [Taraji] was our voice. This was my first studio film. Sometimes you do come in saying, ‘Ok, I’ll take whatever they give me. I’m just happy to be here.’ But [Taraji] spoke up for us. You showed me how to do that.” Henson remembered being on the phone with Oprah once word got out that the cast did not have dressing rooms or food at rehearsals. She told the mega-producer, “We gotta fix this.”

Henson nearly passed on “The Color Purple” due to pay and because she was forced to audition for the role of Shug Avery despite being the director’s top choice. During a viral SiriusXM interview last month, Henson broke down in tears while discussing the pay disparity issues she still faces in Hollywood despite her success on “Empire” and having an Oscar nomination under her belt.

“I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost,” Henson said. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over…Every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did, and I’m tired. I’m tired. It wears on you. What does that mean? What is that telling me? If I can’t fight for them coming up behind me then what the f–k am I doing?”

[From Variety]

My heart breaks for Taraji and it’s been breaking for weeks now as the promotion ramped up – for the producers to treat her this way, to not pay her properly, to not even guarantee a car and driver to and from the set? And Taraji wasn’t even the one who revealed the fact that the actors weren’t even given separate dressing rooms or FOOD?? Like, WTF was Oprah doing? Oprah executive produced this version and the fact that Taraji had to keep calling Oprah to get this sh-t fixed is WILD.

Speaking of Oprah, she was asked if she’s beefing with Taraji because Taraji has called out TCP’s producers for how she and the actors were treated. Oprah said:

“I would just like to say about this whole Taraji thing … I heard I was trending yesterday. People are saying that I was not supporting Taraji. Taraji will tell you herself that I’ve been the greatest champion of this film. Championing not only the behind the scenes projection but also everything that everybody needed. So whenever I heard that there was something that someone needed, I’m not in charge of the budget because that’s Warner Brothers you know that’s the way the studio system works. We as producers, everybody gets their salary everybody is negotiated by your team. And so, whenever I heard there was an issue or there was a problem, there was a problem with a cars or the problem with their food, I would step in and do whatever I could to make it right. And I believe that she would even vouch for that and say that is true.”

[From ET]

Like, I believe that Oprah would correct things when Taraji called her and personally asked for drivers or FOOD, but that doesn’t answer the question of what the hell producers (like OPRAH) were thinking when they were organizing the production. Oprah might not have beef with Taraji, but I’m sure Oprah isn’t pleased that Taraji is speaking honestly about how poorly she was treated on a film Oprah executive produced.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.