In time for the holiday season, the big-screen adaptation of the musical based on Alice Walker’s famed novel of the same name is finally upon us. With a star-studded cast, this new reimagining of The Color Purple will fill theatre seats and make the audience’s hearts soar.
During the press junket tour, I had the opportunity to sit down with the leading men, Corey Hawkins and Colman Domingo, to chat about the film and the work of their illustrious careers (thus far). Hawkins and Domingo have portrayed varying characters throughout their careers, and adding The Color Purple to their resumes clearly meant the world based on their brilliant performances.
Check out the full interview with Corey Hawkins and Colman Domingo below:
It’s been a fantastic year for Domingo. The actor had two films that screened at The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with SingSing and Rustin both having premieres there. In addition, his voice talents can be heard in the animated film, RubyGillman, TeenageKraken (much to the surprise of his co-star, Hawkins).
When I asked Domingo about this whirlwind year, he shared, “You know, I’m a journeyman. I’ve been working and working; usually I’m working and nobody knows that it’s me. You know, ’cause I just get up and get back to work. But now is a beautiful time where it feels like my work is amplified in many ways and people can see, well, what I guess I’ve been aspiring to do for a long time which is to play in very different mediums and different sandboxes. And it feels great that I guess the universe is seeing me the way I’ve seen myself, you know?”
Of course, having starred in StraightOuttaCompton and InTheHeights, Hawkins is no stranger to music-based films. I asked the actor what it was that makes him gravitate toward these projects that have such musicality.
Hawkins told me, “I think I am interested in people who are like poets of the streets. For Compton, that’s what that was. Even with Lin-Manuel Miranda, he was a bit of a poet of the streets. And so, for this, it’s that the streets are sort of dirt roads, right? And Alice Walker is like a poet of these dirt roads and then it became a musical and it just amplified her message. And honestly, as an artist, I just like to do different things and surprise people. Similar to Colman, I just love sort of getting on with it and always coming back to the work and just trying to do things to surprise myself! And if it’s challenging, I’mma lean into it. And if seems easy and something that people will just assume that’s the obvious quote-unquote next step, then that’s not necessarily the next step for me.”