Go Behind the Scenes of 'The Color Purple' with Phylicia Pearl Mpasi
"I definitely came to The Color Purple from the musical," says Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, the actress who plays Young Celie in the new movie musical version of the story—which, of course, has been a best-selling book, a film, and a Broadway musical twice. "I remember being in the car on the way to school when I heard that Fantasia Barrino was going to play Celie on Broadway, but I’d never heard of The Color Purple before."
That changed soon after. The show was part of her curriculum at school, and she'd audition for the 2015 Broadway revival—"I was not cast," she says, "but that’s when I understood what a magical piece of art it was." Today, Mpasi is starring in director Blitz Bazawule's anticipated new film version of the musical, which is produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, among others, and stars Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Taraji P. Henson, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, Jon Batiste, and more.
Here, Mpasi opens her camera roll to T&C to share a behind-the-scenes look at The Color Purple and the moments that didn’t make it on screen.
"The song 'She Be Mine' didn’t get to be in the Broadway musical version of The Color Purple, but it is in the movie, so I felt a real sense of responsibility to do it justice. We pushed back the filming a number of times because of weather and scheduling, and when we ended up doing it, it was a long day in cold water. I was also sick, but was so supported by all of the women in the number and felt this moment of unbridled joy."
"This is the most special of photos. This woman is named Jennifer Ivey, and she was subbing in for my normal makeup artist. He had told me the day before that there would be a surprise for me on set, so I was thinking Champagne or flowers or maybe a note from Oprah. But I walked into the trailer and saw Jennifer, who was the first makeup artist I had worked with on The Lion King right after college. I’ve known her for years, and she was a light for me every day when we did that show. It felt so special that my usual makeup artist could have asked anyone to fill in for him, but he brought her specifically because he knew our connection."
"This is right after I’d wrapped. It felt special because I would go to set every single day and watch, often times I’d be with Blitz or the producers asking them questions about the filming process. I’m sure I annoyed them because I didn’t know how anything worked. But they took such good care of me, knowing it was my first project, and were all really there for me. So, this moment felt like a graduation from the greatest film education and also from a version of myself because I’d grown so much."
"We took this photo on my last day of filming! We had a three-hour hold for lightning, so this was taken at about 2 in the morning. They thought I was done but weren’t quite sure they could send me home. I didn’t want the experience to end, I just wanted to stay there with everyone, but I also felt so triumphant, like I had done the work I was supposed to do. And I was trying to get a good photo for Instagram."
"Here I am with my on-screen sister, Halley Bailey [who plays Young Nettie]. On this day, the elements were against us; we were holding for rain, so here we are relaxing. It was our second or third day on set, so there was a lot of anticipation and joy, especially because we were filming scenes of us playing around on the beach."
"There’s a line from the book, movie, and musical that says, 'I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.' So, every time I saw purple flowers, I’d take a picture to remind myself to always be in a place of gratitude."
"Halley and I took this right before our first scene together because wanted to remember this moment. We’d had an assignment to bond as sisters, which we did and then some. Some version of our characters in the past would be writing letters to one another, but in this modern day, we took photos together whenever we could. This shot came right before the first take of the entire film, and I’m pretty sure that take is the one that ended up in the film."
"I would go to set every day I could, even if I wasn’t filming, to watch Fantasia [who plays Celie]. We didn’t have a lot of time to discuss the mannerisms we’d bring to the character, so I loved seeing what she was doing on screen and how I could bring it into my own performance."
"I love sunrises and sunsets when I can catch them; there’s the promise of a new day and also the release of a day ending. How lucky was I to be making my first major motion picture on a beach? I wanted to remember that."
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