{"id":76038,"date":"2024-01-03T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weareactors.com\/?p=76038"},"modified":"2024-01-04T18:54:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T18:54:39","slug":"the-color-purple-star-danielle-brooks-will-kick-down-every-door-she-has-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weareactors.com\/the-color-purple-star-danielle-brooks-will-kick-down-every-door-she-has-to\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Color Purple\u2019 Star Danielle Brooks Will Kick Down Every Door She Has to"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s not the first moment we meet the show-stealing Danielle Brooks<\/a> as Sofia in Blitz Bazawule\u2019s musical adaption of \u201cThe Color Purple,\u201d<\/a> but it might as well be, so clearly (so\u00a0amusingly<\/em>) does it capture her essence.<\/p>\n

Picture this: We\u2019re in Harpo\u2019s (Corey Hawkins) newly built cabin (situated, somewhat strangely, smack in the middle of the bayou), a home he\u2019s endeavored mightily to make his own, when who should appear? His own fianc\u00e9e, Sofia, as ebullient and self-assured as any character we meet in the Alice Walker adaptation, who doesn\u2019t just\u00a0enter\u00a0<\/em>her future house, but literally kicks down the door to make her way inside.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Sofia in a nutshell: buoyant, confident, funny, a little crazy, and impossible to ignore. So it\u2019s only fitting that Brooks, who brings Sofia so wonderfully to life in the film<\/a>, can be thanked for its creation.<\/p>\n

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\"Maestro\"<\/div>\n

\u201cI have so much pride in that moment,\u201d Brooks told IndieWire during a recent interview. \u201cBlitz really gave me the freedom to bring my ideas into the room. Originally, he and <\/span>our choreographer Fatima [Robinson]<\/a> were just like, \u2018We need you to come into the door and then we\u2019ll work out the movement,\u2019 and I said, \u2018Well, Sofia would just never just come\u00a0<\/span>through<\/em>\u00a0a door.\u2019 At Juilliard, they taught us, \u2018Any time you enter and exit a room, you want the audience to want to go with you and leave with you,\u2019 so that\u2019s what stuck with me. Sofia is not just going to creep into a room and just walk through a door \u2014 she\u2019s going to bust it wide open. That\u2019s who she is. So Blitz got some of the crew to rig the door so that I could kick it, because I actually think originally the door was going in the opposite direction, and so we wouldn\u2019t really knock the door off its hinges, and they rigged it so that I could do that.\u201d<\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Brooks\u2019 door-kicking bluster is already paying off: She\u2019s been nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award (CCA) in the supporting actress categories, in addition to best ensemble nods from the CCAs and the Black Reel Awards<\/a>. An Oscar nod seems likely (and deserved), but Brooks isn\u2019t too fussed about that. First? She just really wants to talk about everyone else around her who made this work possible.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Color Purple<\/a>\u201cWarner Bros.<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just a testament [to] working with a director who trusts their actors,\u201d<\/a> the actress said of that door-kicking (and, it seems, more). \u201cI\u2019m grateful because there have been moments in my career, in characters I played where [I felt] hindered. You feel like, \u2018Man, I thought you hired me because you thought I had some good ideas and knew this character.\u2019 Sometimes that doesn\u2019t always get to translate through the screen. With this [film], every choice that I made, I felt confident in it because Blitz gave me the permission to make Sofia of my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added with a smile, \u201cAnd so did Miss Oprah, who was there on set a lot of the time.\u201d (Miss Oprah is, of course, Oprah Winfrey, who produced Bazawule\u2019s film and played Sofia in Steven Spielberg\u2019s 1985 film adaptation of Walker\u2019s book.)<\/p>\n

While much of \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d traces the arc of Fantasia Barrino\u2019s Miss Celie \u2014 a traditionally plotted story, one that steadily traces her growing self-respect and self-determination, all leading up to the show-stopping \u201cI\u2019m Here\u201d and a final sequence that sees her enjoying her hard-won happiness \u2014 Sofia\u2019s arc is different.<\/p>\n

\"The
\u201cThe Color Purple\u201dWarner Bros. Discovery<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brooks\u2019 character is initially delivered to us as confident, outspoken, and secure in her desires as a woman. She kicks down doors. She leaves her husband when he tries to beat her. She finds a new love. She sings an entire song about keeping her self-worth in the face of anyone getting in her way (it\u2019s called \u201cHell No,\u201d and it\u2019s glorious). She\u2019s the sort of character we expect to see someone grow\u00a0into<\/em>, the kind of person we celebrate at the end of a long, hard journey.<\/p>\n

Which makes her eventual arc that much more wrenching, as the second half of \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d sees Sofia imprisoned, abused, and beaten down after a horrific run-in with a racist white woman (a skin-crawling Elizabeth Marvel) who simply can\u2019t\u00a0believe\u00a0<\/em>that a Black woman like Sofia wouldn\u2019t want to come work as her maid. Snatched from her family, locked up in the local jail, taken completely out of the life she\u2019s made for herself, even Sofia starts to crumble. That\u2019s a different arc. That\u2019s what Brooks loves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0thing that I love about Sofia is that it\u2019s true to reality,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cFor some people, life is going to be full of coming back into yourself and discovering yourself again, and figuring out how to go back and pick up pieces of yourself that were helpful for the journey and then let go of some things that aren\u2019t. I had the joy of my life playing with this character, because the same way in which Sofia has her power, loses her power, [she] comes back into it, I feel like I\u2019ve gone through a similar journey with myself. It\u2019s been a really incredible trajectory of growth as an artist for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Color Purple\u201d\u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brooks pointed back to her time at Juilliard (she graduated in 2011, two years before her breakout role in Netflix\u2019s hit series \u201cOrange Is the New Black\u201d) to further illustrate her point. \u201cYou get into Juilliard, you\u2019re studying, and you have this fearlessness, or\u00a0I<\/em>\u00a0had this fearlessness about myself that you really couldn\u2019t tell me nothing,\u201d she said. \u201cI just enjoyed acting so much and I would fall and not care and get back up again, it was OK to throw myself at whatever I was being taught or learning. And it wasn\u2019t until I really entered into this industry and started to get some notoriety that I started to doubt that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing Sofia, first on Broadway and then in Bazawule\u2019s film? That righted things for her. \u201cIt was through playing Sofia and singing \u2018Hell No\u2019 every night on Broadway for a year in 2015 that really helped me to come out of my slump of feeling like I wasn\u2019t enough or feeling imposter syndrome, feeling like, \u2018How did I get here?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThen getting to play her in this movie, I feel like I\u2019ve had my own moment at the dinner table of coming back into myself \u2026 of owning my power through this character, and owning my power in this industry, and knowing that there is a place for me in this industry in the way in which I can move is by being my authentic self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside Barrino (who played Celie in the original Broadway production, picking up from LaChanze; Barrino also played the role on tour) Brooks is the only other Broadway holdover to make up the film\u2019s cast. She previously played Sofia during the 2015 Broadway revival of the musical, earning Brooks her first Tony nomination.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s been open about her struggle to get cast in Bazawule\u2019s theatrical version \u2014 to say she seemed like both the best\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0the most obvious choice is clear within the first 30 seconds she\u2019s onscreen, but Hollywood sure can be strange \u2014 but even that process seemed to have further crystallized Brooks\u2019 determination.<\/p>\n

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John Cena, Steve Agee, Danielle Brooks, and Chukwudi Iwuji in \u201cPeacemaker\u201dHBO Max<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brooks recalls shooting the first season of the Max\/DC series \u201cPeacemaker\u201d in Canada in early 2021 while she was trying to lock up the \u201cColor Purple\u201d job. It wasn\u2019t going so well. \u201cI was still in my process of trying to get this job, and a lot of different names were being floated around [for Sofia], and that was intimidating me and making me feel like, \u2018Man, this really might not swing in my direction,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

The actress turned to her director and series creator James Gunn about her fears, \u201cand James took time during filming to talk to me. He was just telling me about keeping the faith, and if I really wanted it, to go for it. And don\u2019t be afraid to write Blitz a letter. Because I was asking James, like, \u2018Should I write Blitz a letter? Is that too aggressive or too much?\u2019 And he was like, \u2018No, I don\u2019t think it is.\u2019 He just took that time to help comfort me, [reminding me that] you\u2019ll end up where you need to, but don\u2019t be afraid to fight for what you want.\u201d She fought. She won.<\/p>\n

But the prize was a different Sofia than she had known on Broadway.\u00a0Trimmed down from the stage show\u2019s 155-minute running time, Bazawule\u2019s film does not include over a dozen songs Brooks and company performed on Broadway. She misses some of them, like \u201cDear God \u2014 Sofia\u201d and \u201cAny Little Thing.\u201d But she gets why these changes were made, like the alterations to \u201cHell No,\u201d which is sped up and turned into \u201cmore like an anthem for women\u2019s empowerment\u201d in the film.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Color Purple\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u00a0was about understanding the vision of our director and what he was going for,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cMe and Blitz had about an hour, hour and a half conversation when I was first going through my audition process, and I could tell, he was bringing a new light to it. He was giving it a facelift in a way to really match the needs of this generation. I\u2019m like, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s go.\u2019 \u2026 It\u2019s very rare that an actor gets to play the same character in two different mediums. But now, I was coloring with an endless coloring box. That\u2019s how I felt, endless crayons.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was endless new energy, too. \u201cI have the elements now. I\u2019m\u00a0in<\/em>\u00a0Georgia. I have the sun beaming on my face,\u201d Brooks recalled. \u201cI have all of the things that I need to really bring Sofia to life in the best way that I knew how. The addition of having new actors, they bring new energy, they\u2019re bringing new choices and digging deeper into the work as well. \u2026 Getting to play her [again], it just was like putting out a bull that you\u2019re trying to stop. I was ready to cut up and just go for everything. To not leave any crumb on the floor when I got that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other changes offered different results. Consider again the scene in which Sofia is arrested, which \u201creally took a toll\u201d on Brooks\u2019 body, \u201cbecause I ended up having to do that scene over the course of two days for multiple hours a day, and it pulled my back out,\u201d she explained. \u201cSwinging back and forth trying to get the mob off of me. Of course, we have an incredible stage combat leader [stunt coordinator Mark Hicks] and his crew were fabulous, but doing it over and over, that really took me out, where I had to do physical therapy and go to the chiropractor for a few weeks to recover while still having to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Broadway, that scene is \u201cstripped down to just a bare stage with wood and wooden chairs,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cSo when we did the mob scene on Broadway, you don\u2019t even see it. You just see me come down center stage and fall to my knees, and then you\u2019ll see I lift my head up and now I\u2019ve transformed into a new version, a downtrodden, spirit-stolen Sofia, which I can sustain for a year. But it\u2019s 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. \u2026 I pride myself on being a physical actor. That\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
\u201cThe Color Purple\u201dWarner Bros.<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brooks credits her Juilliard training for her helping her emerge from the tough task of playing Sofia, particularly in scenes that require both physical and emotional acuity and passion. At the end of a day on set, Brooks has a routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I have to do is get out of my wig, get out of my clothes, and I take a hot towel to my face and wipe off the character. That seems to help,\u201d she said. \u201cBut when you talk about the internal, the spiritual part of giving of yourself, that takes time. To me, a lot of it has to go back to the ancestors. I call it blood work because you have to go down your bloodline and talk to them, or at least I did, and pull from Black women in my family and Black women just in history that have experienced things like this. I think about those women, and it\u2019s hard to shake those stories. I wrote in my journal at the end of it, I was like, \u2018After 70-plus days of playing Sofia, I\u2019m completely depleted.\u2019 I was so drained.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knowing she will<\/em> come out of it helps. \u201cI do credit Juilliard for teaching us how to come out of character, how to not always go to the darkest of places within ourselves, to know when you do go there, that there is a way to pull out that you don\u2019t have to stay there,\u201d she said. \u201cEach actor, you find your own way. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what\u2019s next? Brooks is continuing her role on \u201cPeacemaker\u201d and is set for a role in the upcoming \u201cMinecraft\u201d big-screen feature. She\u2019d like to work with filmmakers like \u201cThe Harder They Fall\u201d and \u201cThe Book of Clarence\u201d director Jeymes Samuel and Steven Spielberg (\u201cCome on, let\u2019s get it!\u201d), the kind of creators who could be \u201cthe right kindred spirit to make magic together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Color Purple\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And she wants more magic, lots more, not just for herself either<\/a>. She hopes the success of \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d<\/a> will make it\u00a0\u201ceasier to get what is needed to support these films. I think that\u2019s what it\u2019s really about.\u201d She continued, \u201cBlitz can probably speak way better to this than I can, but I know that he did have to fight for a lot of stuff to get the budget to where it needed to get, to get the answers that he wanted. \u2026 It is an industry, everybody is trying to pinch a coin in every direction, but I do look forward to a day where you can have more than one Blitz Bazawule, more than one Ava DuVernay, more than one Dee Rees. Can we get multiple movies going at a time so that we can continue to expand our storytelling?\u00a0I think we are just ready to get to a place where we don\u2019t have to fight as hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Warner Bros. film, \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d is now in theaters.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The Color Purple\u2019 Star Danielle Brooks Will Kick Down Every Door She Has to<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not the first moment we meet the show-stealing Danielle Brooks as Sofia in Blitz Bazawule\u2019s musical adaption of \u201cThe Color Purple,\u201d but it might as well be, so clearly (so\u00a0amusingly) does it capture her essence. Picture this: We\u2019re in Harpo\u2019s (Corey Hawkins) newly built cabin (situated, somewhat strangely, smack in the middle of the bayou), a home he\u2019s endeavored mightily to make his own, when who should appear? His own fianc\u00e9e, Sofia, as ebullient and self-assured as any character we meet in the Alice Walker adaptation, who doesn\u2019t just\u00a0enter\u00a0her future house, but literally kicks down the door to make<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_eb_attr":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-interviews"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018The Color Purple\u2019 Star Danielle Brooks Will Kick Down Every Door She Has to | We Are Actors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weareactors.com\/the-color-purple-star-danielle-brooks-will-kick-down-every-door-she-has-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018The Color Purple\u2019 Star Danielle Brooks Will Kick Down Every Door She Has to | We Are Actors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s not the first moment we meet the show-stealing Danielle Brooks as Sofia in Blitz Bazawule\u2019s musical adaption of \u201cThe Color Purple,\u201d but it might as well be, so clearly (so\u00a0amusingly) does it capture her essence. Picture this: We\u2019re in Harpo\u2019s (Corey Hawkins) newly built cabin (situated, somewhat strangely, smack in the middle of the bayou), a home he\u2019s endeavored mightily to make his own, when who should appear? 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