H.E.R. will make acting debut in The Color Purple movie musical
H.E.R.'s Hollywood takeover is coming into focus.
The Oscar- and Grammy-winning R&B singer is in final negotiations to make her big-screen acting debut in the film adaptation of The Color Purple musical. H.E.R. will play the supporting role of Squeak, a juke joint waitress turned aspiring singer. (Rae Dawn Chong played Squeak in the 1985 Steven Spielberg film, and Krisha Marcano originated the role on Broadway.)
She joins a cast that includes In the Heights star Corey Hawkins, who was reported to be playing Harpo in the film earlier this week.
H.E.R. previously told EW she planned to transition into an acting career following her success in music. "I've been so focused on making music but I think it's time now for me to go full throttle with acting," the singer said earlier this year. "I'm working on that right now, following my passion for acting." (She previously made a cameo as herself in the Netflix movie Yes Day.)
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She won't need the role to add to her EGOT, though: H.E.R. took home the Oscar for Best Original Song in February, for her song "Fight for You" from Judas and the Black Messiah.
The upcoming Color Purple film is based on the Tony-winning musical, which is itself based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer-winning 1982 novel and Spielberg's film adaptation. It follows the journey and struggles of Celie Harris, a Black woman living in the American South in the early 1900s. The musical originally ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2008, winning a Tony for lead actress LaChanze, and was revived in 2015 with Cynthia Erivo in the lead role, picking up two more Tonys for Best Revival of a Musical and for Erivo's performance.
Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, who made her own acting debut in the 1985 film, are producing the new adaptation, which Warner Bros. will release on Dec. 20, 2023.
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