The Color Purple: Spielberg's Most Nominated Movie Not to Win an Oscar

As I reflect with pride during Black History Month, on how far we have come in society to be able to elect our first African-American President of the United States, Barack Obama, I also celebrate Oprah Winfrey and the Broadway production of The Color Purple. You see, in 1985, the classic movie The Color Purple was also a history maker and has come a long way.

The classic 1985 movie, The Color Purple, has to go down in movie history as one of the most amazing success and failure stories of all time. It created one of the most controversial moments in Academy Awards history when The Color Purple was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but Steven Spielberg was snubbed for a Best Director nomination. At the end of the Academy Awards show, The Color Purple won no golden Oscar statues. Scandals broke out over the Oscar results and it would become one of Steven Spielberg's most disappointing times.

Spielberg directed The Color Purple, a movie based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel written by Alice Walker. Many movie critics thought it was the best picture of the year, while others scorned the movie for depicting black men as abusive, unfaithful, and uncaring. Walker thought the movie lessened the roles of the lesbian characters and Spielberg would later admit that he was wrong for thinking that audiences would not be able to handle overt lesbian relationship portrayals on screen.

The Color Purple is one of the top 10 classic movies of the 1980's. Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy produced The Color Purple starring Danny Glover as Albert, Whoopi Goldberg as Celie, Margaret Avery as Shug, and Oprah Winfrey as Sofia. The Color Purple is the story of an abused woman who fights to survive against all odds. Ironically, Tina Turner, whose life had a parallel story, turned down the role of Shug. It would be Whoopi Goldberg's first feature film and Oprah Winfrey's first movie role.

The movie version of The Color Purple was so highly anticipated that the auditions had to be held under the code name of "Moon Song." Whoopi auditioned for Spielberg by doing a stoned E.T. character. Spielberg's friends, Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson attended the auditions for The Color Purple. Patti LaBelle also auditioned for the role of Shug, but in the end it went to Margaret Avery.

Spielberg banned producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters from the set of The Color Purple for offering too many suggestions during the production of the movie. While many of Alice Walker's reservations about Spielberg's ability to produce and direct a serious movie about people of color and lesbians were expressed on the set, Walker came to like the movie The Color Purple even though she feels it is much different than her book. Spielberg said The Color Purple was his first serious movie, but after the huge success of E.T. and Schindler's List, Spielberg came back to show the Oscars what film-making and directing was really about.

More About The Color Purple

The Color Purple Movie Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d83NnlL83mc

The Color Purple on Broadway

http://www.colorpurple.com/

Where You Can Buy The Color Purple on DVD

The Color Purple

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Color-Purple-Danny-Glover/dp/0790729717/ref=cm_lmf_tit_5

The Color Purple

IMDb

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088939/

The Color Purple

Half.com DVD by eBay

http://search.half.ebay.com/the%20color%20purple%20dvd_W0QQmZmovies

The Color Purple

CDUniverse

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5550915

The Color Purple

Tower Video

http://www.tower.com/color-purple-whoopi-goldberg-dvd/wapi/107000564

Sources:

IMDb for The Color Purplehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088939/trivia