Danielle Brooks shared a behind-the-scenes look at how filming rather intense scene from The Color Purple made her undergo physical therapy.
Brooks, 34, “pulled [her] back out” when shooting the moment her character, Sofia, is attacked and arrested after refusing to work as a maid. “I ended up having to do that scene over the course of two days for multiple hours a day,” she recalled to IndieWire on Wednesday, January 3. “Swinging back and forth trying to get the mob off of me.”
The actress praised the “incredible stage combat leader” that helped prepare for the scene. However, having to shoot the arrest repeatedly “really took me out,” Brooks added.
“I had to do physical therapy and go to the chiropractor for a few weeks to recover while still having to work,” she recalled. “I pride myself on being a physical actor. That’s where I live. I love finding how I can use all of my body for the character. I just want to use everything that I can.”
Before nabbing The Color Purple, Brooks played the role of Sofia in the Broadway production from 2015 to 2017. She explained how the arrest scene differs from the stage to the screen.
“When we did the mob scene on Broadway, you don’t even see it. You just see me come down center stage and fall to my knees, and then you’ll see I lift my head up and now I’ve transformed into a new version, a downtrodden, spirit-stolen Sofia, which I can sustain for a year,” Brooks shared. “But it’s much different doing [it for real], and having 10 to 15 guys surrounding you and you wanting to put everything in it because you want it to make sense from every angle, to not feel like you phoned it in.”
Brooks was cast to reprise her role from the stage production in February 2022. The film was ultimately released in December 2023, making it the second movie adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1982 novel of the same name.
When reflecting on playing Sofia on screen, Brooks recalled being “drained” overall.
“I wrote in my journal at the end of it, I was like, ‘After 70-plus days of playing Sofia, I’m completely depleted,’” she told IndieWire. However, Brooks also credited her professional training from Juilliard for knowing “how to come out of character” when the day is over.
“Each actor, you find your own way,” she said. “And again, mine is taking off that wig right away, putting that hot towel on my face, taking the clothes off, wearing my jumpsuit and my Dr. Martens, getting my swag back, getting my spirit back. That helps me.”
