Oprah reveals the shockingly low paycheck she received for ‘The Color Purple’
nypost.com1985 film “The Color Purple” was the “best $35,000 I ever made.” Speaking with Essence magazine, Winfrey, 69, revealed she “wanted nothing more in my life than to be in ‘The Color Purple'” when it was announced that Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book would hit the silver screen. “They were only offering $35,000 to be in this film,” Winfrey told the outlet for their cover story on the upcoming movie adaptation of the Broadway musical. “And it is the best $35,000 I ever earned.”The story follows a teen named Celie as she tries to live her life as an African American in the South during the early- to mid-1900s.In 2016, Entertainment Weekly reported that Winfrey wanted to be in the film so badly that she told producers she “didn’t need a speaking role” and “was willing to carry the script, help people with the water.”It was revealed during a 2014 interview with the Huff Post (formerly Huffington Post) that music director Quincy Jones also wanted Winfrey for the film. “I saw this lady [hosting talk show ‘A.M.
Chicago’] and said, ‘If she can act, that’s Sofia,'” Jones, now 90, said. According to the former talk show host, playing the character in the original film “changed everything and taught me so much.
It is God moving through my life.”Directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg, the film had several high-profile stars including Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover.
Spielberg’s film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actress for Goldberg, plus two Best Supporting Actress nods, for Winfrey and Margaret Avery.
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