Fantasia Barrino is featured in the new film version of The Color Purple, but after starring in the Broadway production, she initially rejected reprising her emotionally draining role as the physically and emotionally abused Celie Harris-Johnson.
“What I felt and carried stepping into her shoes and playing her role, I wasn’t ready to go back to that,” the American Idol winner, 39, told Entertainment Weekly.
Barrino performed in the musical on Broadway from 2007-2008. Now she joins a star-studded cast in the second film version, including Taraji P. Henson, Halle Bailey, H.E.R. and Danielle Brooks, the latter of whom also appeared in the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple.
Based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker, the original 1985 film was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Whoopi Goldberg in the role of Celie. The character is a teenager in rural Hartwell, Georgia who had two children born of rape by her abusive father.
Barrino said that director Blitz Bazawule added a new dimension to Celie that made her change her mind about joining the new production.
When he told Barrino, “I’m giving her an imagination so that the people will be able to see certain things,” she was hooked.
“I said, ‘Well, you got me. You got me. I got to do it one more time,’” Barrino recalled. “What Blitz is coming with with this Color Purple, it’s necessary for this generation.”
When Barrino starred on Broadway, she experienced severe financial problems that nearly led to the auction of her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She recalled that her personal obstacles made her feel like she was living a nightmare, like Celie.
“The way I saw it on Broadway was, my life was in shambles and Celie’s was, too, so it was heavy,” Barrino remembered. “I was not only playing her, but I was living that life: so young, not having the right team with you, making all the wrong mistakes, trying to find love in all the wrong places.”
In 2007, Barrino told the Associated Press she identified with Celie because both of them lacked education, had a baby in their teens and suffered sexual abuse.
“I put myself in her shoes in having [daughter] Zion at such a young age and dropping out of school and being in just bad relationships and disrespected,” she said.
Now 16 years later, Barrino believes that like Celie, she has overcome her challenges and can serve as inspiration to her fans.
“I feel like there was once a time in my career where things were not so good. Days were not so bright, but I kept going and I never gave up. Through Celie, I caught my breakthrough and I’m grateful for that. If they can’t see it through me, then I allow myself to be a vessel so they can see it through Celie,” she told EW.
Barrino says she is thrilled to work in the new version with so many stars she admires.
“I was just honored to even be in the presence of some real actors and actresses who bring it,” she commented. “They gave me exactly what I needed to play Celie.”
The Color Purple opens in theaters on Christmas Day.
