“Celie had a real imagination, and perhaps that’s how she was able to deal with all the hurt she was going through,” said the Ghanaian rapper, writer-director and visual artist. “I felt that if I could really lean into that — and be proximate to her joy, her pain, her isolation — it would be a strong and worthwhile contribution to not only the canon of ‘The Color Purple’ but also the medium of musicals.”

“The Color Purple” is in movie theaters now.

Never miss a beat: Get our daily stories straight to your inbox with theGrio’s newsletter.

The post ‘The Color Purple’ smashes Christmas box office appeared first on TheGrio.