Danielle Brooks is the latest ‘Color Purple’ star to complain about her less-than-ideal working conditions while making the musical.
During a Q&A with The Color Purple cast on Friday, Brooks said she was stunned that the cast were made to share a dressing room.
“I remember when we first came in and we were doing rehearsal and they put us all in the same space and we didn’t have our own dressing rooms at the time,” she said, adding that they also were not given food.
Brooks’ complaint come just a few days after co-star Taraji P. Henson criticized the film’s producers for having the actors drive themselves to the set in rental cars. It sparked some heated discussion within the industry about whether Henson’s criticism was actually merited or not.
”The Color Purple” has turned into such a sh*tshow that one of its producers, Oprah Winfrey, has had to come out and defend herself. In an interview with CBS, Winfrey claims she had no idea these “conditions” were even happening.
Oprah then deflects the blame and says it was the head of the WB at the time, Toby Emmerich, who did not want drivers or personal dressing rooms for the cast. Weirdly Oprah cries out repeatedly, "Why is my name even in this conversation?" Um, maybe because you were one of the producers?
Either “The Color Purple” team was not well organized, or this was a result of Warners’ cost cutting, I would bet it’s the latter.
Regardless, all of this drama would not be happening if the film was doing well. “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, has barely made a dent at the box-office.