Fantasia Barrino Shares Why She Hesitated To Join ‘The Color Purple’ Movie After Broadway

Fantasia Barrino is bringing her “The Color Purple” character Celie to the big screen, but she almost passed on the opportunity. The “American Idol” alum explained to Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans what made her hesitate to join the cast and how she was convinced to do it at the Los Angeles premiere for the film on Wednesday. “It was when [the director] Blitz [Bazawule] gave Celie an imagination because we don’t live life and not imagine ourselves in different places. When I played her on Broadway, she didn’t have an imagination,” she said. “I wanted to show people this time around from the movie and from Broadway, I played it twice, I wanted them to see that, nah, let’s show them that you can go through a whole lotta lotta but you can still imagine yourself in a place, envision yourself in a place, and plant the seed and get there and look at me now.” She also reacted to Oprah saying she should be nominated for a Golden Globe for her role. “It feels great because I’m a girl from High Point, North Carolina, small town. I want the whole world to see, but I also want those small town girls to see that you don’t gotta stay where you are baby you can be whatever you want to be,” she said. “The Color Purple” is in theaters Dec. 25.