H.E.R. Lands First Acting Role in 'Color Purple' Musical Film Adaptation

Grammy and Oscar-winning artist H.E.R. will be making her silver screen debut as the character Squeak in the Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg-produced movie version of The Color Purple, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Squeak is a juke joint waitress and aspiring singer, originally played by Rae Dawn Chong in the 1985 Spielberg film. Krisha Marcano took on the role in the original Broadway cast.

Based on Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and adapted from the 1985 film, The Color Purple depicts the life-long struggles of an African American woman living in the South during the early 1900s. The Tony-winning The Color Purple - which starred Jennifer Hudson and Cynthia Erivo during its 2015 revival - first announced plans to produce a movie adaptation in 2018.

Following a lengthy development, the adaptation has added Beyonce’s Black Is King collaborator Blitz Bazawule as director. Besides H.E.R., Corey Hawkins (In the Heights) has been tapped to play the role of Harpo. Sources say H.E.R. may also perform a new original song for the movie musical adaptation.

The two lead roles of Celie (played by Erivo in the 2015 revival) and Shug Avery (Hudson in the revival) have not been cast yet. Warner Bros. has set a release date of December 20, 2023 for the big-screen musical.

While the film will be H.E.R.'s acting debut, the singer-songwriter has previously contributed music to the film Judas and the Black Messiah. Her song “Fight For You” went on to win the 2021 Oscar for Best Original Song. In other H.E.R. music news, the musician recently released her debut studio album Back of My Mind in June.

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_{Article Image: H.E.R. posing on the red carpet at the 62nd Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on January 26, 2020. (Jean_Nelson via DepositPhotos.)}