Cynthia Erivo Hints at Tension with 'Color Purple' Movie Team, Talks Not Reprising Celie Role

justjared.com:

Cynthia Erivo won a Grammy, an Emmy, and a Tony all for her work as Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple.

She did not reprise the role in the recent film adaptation though and now she’s hinting at tension with the movie team. The actress could have made history as the first person to achieve EGOT status through one project if she played Celie in the recent movie musical and won the Oscar. Cynthia won Best Leading Actress in a Musical at the Tony Awards, Best Musical Theater Album at the Grammy Awards, and Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program at the Daytime Emmy Awards for performing a number from the show on NBC’s Today. Fantasia Barrino, who played Celie as a replacement in the original Broadway production of The Color Purple, starred in the recent movie instead.

While appearing on Marc Maron‘s WTF podcast, Cynthia talked about the film version and hinted at tensions for the first time. Keep reading to find out more… Marc talked about attended a “friends and family” screening of The Color Purple that was attended by many members of the original Broadway production. “Oh, wow, wow, wow.

Oh, yeah, I didn’t get that invite,” Cynthia responded. When Marc apologized and noted that it “feels like there’s a little tension,” Cynthia responded, “Well, I don’t know why though.” Cynthia was asked if she was up for the role and she said, “Um, that’s a long, complicated conversation that I probably shouldn’t even get into… Lord knows why.