Steven Spielberg and Whoopi Goldberg Reflect on Her Casting in 'The Color Purple'

The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg took some cameras on a visit to Steven Spielberg’s mansion for a segment that aired on Wednesday morning (see above), during which she reminisced with the Oscar-winning director about the first time they ever met. They couldn’t have been at two more different points in their lives: Spielberg was a superstar filmmaker, and Goldberg was a young comic working in San Francisco. But Spielberg was looking for an actress to play Celie in his 1985 big-screen adaptation of The Color Purple, and the book’s author, Alice Walker, had caught Goldberg’s show and recommended the young comic to him.

“I had been considering a lot of actresses to play Celie, and I’d never heard of Whoopi Goldberg, and I didn’t quite believe a person existed whose name was Whoopi Goldberg,” Spielberg remembered with a laugh.

Goldberg faced perhaps the most intimidating audition of all time: Not only did she have to perform part of her act for Spielberg, but also Quincy Jones (a producer on the film) and Michael Jackson. She was nervous, but she nailed it.

“I knew you were Celie probably before you took your 15th breath,” Spielberg told Goldberg. “The reason I saw Celie in you, because of the first few minutes of your act, was because of your strength … I would never hire Celie who wasn’t strong because you’ve got to get there. That has to be in her makeup. It has to be in her DNA.”

Goldberg, for her part, credits Spielberg for part of that strength.

“You and Mike Nichols are my two touchstones,” she said. “Whenever I’m not sure that I know what I’m doing, I think, well, they knew because they put me in stuff, so it must be all right, so thank you for that.”

The casting worked out for everyone, as the film was nominated for 11 Oscars — including a Best Actress nomination for Goldberg.

Previously on ‘The View,’ a Frustrated Whoopi Goldberg: ‘I Am Black’

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