Peacemaker's Breakout Star Danielle Brooks Cast in The Color Purple

By Aaron Perine


Peacemaker's Danielle Brooks has been cast in The Color Purple. Blitz Bazawule is directing a new version scheduled to release in 2023. Brooks will be playing Sofia across from American Idol winner Fantasia's Celie. Taraji P. Henson, Halle Bailey, and H.E.R. will also be starring in the project. As the original film racked up both accolades and critical acclaim, there are some big shoes to fill for these women. However, on a Zoom call, Brooks got the surprise of a lifetime as Oprah shared the good news with her. Check out the interaction for yourself in the video below.

"I am here representing all things purple to tell you that you are our Sophia," she explained. "I'm so happy to pass whatever baton from 35 -- almost 40 -- years ago to you. And I know you're gonna kill it."

Brooks was so emotional as she promised to make  Oprah proud. Then the star responded, "You already have. I wanted to be the one to tell you because you know I have such love for her, this character, everything she represents and everything she brought to my life. And what I'm hoping is that she does the same thing for you."

In a previous talk with Variety, Brooks talked about how Gunn folded her into the DC Comics project.

"So, crazy enough, James Gunn watched 'Orange Is the New Black.' He was a fan. And he wrote this part with me in mind. I was really excited because first of all, I just had a child. Working was very important, because now we have a new mouth to feed," she explained. "But also we had just come into the pandemic, and it's like, when will I work again — especially after having a kid. It's also this kind of nerve-racking experience, because you really want to fit in their world. When you audition and you get the part, you know that you were the right choice, but when you didn't audition, you're like, "I hope they don't feel like they made a terrible mistake."

Brooks added, "So we ended up having a meeting, and we just hit it off. I explained to him [that] I've never seen anyone like myself in this world. It was really exciting for James to say, 'I like you the way you are. I don't want you to get all this training and try to lose 100 pounds' or all this stuff… He didn't try to make me fit into his world. He said, 'You already fit.' I really appreciated that."

Have you enjoyed her work so far? Let us know down below!

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