As I had recently written, “The Color Purple” has had its Best Picture chances sliding away in recent weeks — it missed BAFTA, The Golden Globes, Guilds, and, after a strong start, barely made a dent at the box-office.
It doesn’t help that now one of its actors, Taraji P. Henson, is actually, literally, campaigning against the producers of the film. Henson is peeved off that, during the shoot of “The Color Purple,” producers made the cast drive themselves to the set in rental cars.
Here she is, in a new interview with the New York Times:
They gave us rental cars, and I was like, 'I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.' This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous. Now they robbing people. What do I look like, taking myself to work by myself in a rental car? So I was like, 'Can I get a driver or security to take me?' I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, 'Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.' Well, do it for everybody! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for.
So, who are the producers of “The Color Purple?” They include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones, among others.
Forget about Oscars, but Henson’s recent outbursts might actually get her blacklisted by studios. The people she’s criticizing are some of the most influential and powerful in the biz.
You might also be asking, is this really a common practice for the case to get driven to their filming locations? It’s all relative, really. It depends on the production, the star, the leeway etc. “The Color Purple” had a budget of $100 million, so it’s not like they couldn’t afford a driver for Henson.
This is just the latest outburst from Henson. Last month, she complained and cried, on-camera, about pay disparity in the industry and how she had to pay her agent, manager, personal employees. Henson admitted that she was contemplating quitting acting because of it.
If I were a betting man, I’d lay down all my chips on Henson not quitting acting. What is she going to do otherwise? Work at a fast food joint? Acting in A-list, or even B-list, movies, like she does, brings in much more money than most other jobs. Sometimes you just have to be grateful for what you have, and she has plenty.