The OG Celie showed up to support the new Celie.
Blitz Bazawule’s The Color Purple begins in a similar way to Spielberg’s ‘85 film with a teenaged Celie giving birth to her second child – whose father is the same man who claims to be Celie’s dad. She knows he’s going to take the baby away, and is devastated. However, in the 2023 adaptation, there’s someone else along with Celie’s sister Nettie to help her through the process, a midwife played by Whoopi Goldberg.
The Oscar-winner has one line in the movie, as she comforts Phylicia Pearl Mpasi’s young Celie through the birth, she says:
You’re doing just fine, Miss Celie. I just need you to push one more time.
It’s a sweet moment that nods to one of Goldberg’s best performances, as she helps Mpasi’s Celie. And it turns out, this role was perfect for the comedian because of her history with The Color Purple.
Whoopi Goldberg’s cameo was a way for The Color Purple cast to pay tribute to the actress behind Celie in Spielberg’s 1985 film, according to the LA Times. Her performance was highly praised and the original movie earned a lot of acclaim and eleven Oscar nominations. Speaking about the cameo, screenwriter Marcus Gardley explained why it was “perfect” for her and the film, saying:
Symbolically, that felt like the perfect part, because she’s the one to not only encourage her during the birth, but it’s like she herself gave birth to the role and now we see her passing it down. It’s one of the most beautiful scenes because you see [Goldberg] looking upon [Mpasi] with pride and telling her, ‘You can do it.’
While they eventually landed on the perfect cameo for Goldberg that had a lot of meaning baked into it, it took them a while to land on the idea. Speaking about trying to figure out a role for the actress to play, Gardley said:
We struggled with figuring out where it could happen and what character she would be, because the Spielberg film looms so large in our culture. And these actresses grew up watching these iconic roles that inspired them to become actresses themselves.
Director Blitz Bazawule also said the actress loved working on the set, and she wanted to support the cast in any way she could. He said she was there to “pass the baton” to both young Celie, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, as well as the older Celie, Fantasia Barrino, as this is a major moment in both their careers.
Well, the baton has been passed, and these two women are massive reasons why The Color Purple was met with great reactions from critics and fans. Like Whoopi Goldberg, this film will likely be a career-defining moment for them, and the comedian was there to hold their hand and support them.
To see Whoopi Goldberg’s cameo in The Color Purple, you can catch the musical in theaters now. And to see the actress’s incredible lead performance in the 1985 film of the same name, all you need is a Max subscription.
