Taraji P. Henson slams The Color Purple for making cast drive themselves
The Color Purple star, Taraji P. Henson has criticized the movie and Warner Bros. for its treatment towards its actors.
The Color Purple, based on the acclaimed novel, movie, and musical, is one of the latest movie musicals to come out with unfortunate marketing. Not only does Hollywood seem to havea problem with advertising musicals as such, but a lot of the movie’s publicity comes from the stars themselves, who had negative things to say about their time on set.
This includes Taraji P. Henson, star of Empire, Hidden Figures, and What Men Want, who has gone on record to criticize a lack of services for the actors, meaning cars to drive them to and from set.
Her comments have sparked some debate on social media, as it lends itself to necessary discussions of racism and mistreatment in the Hollywood industry as a whole.
Taraji P. Henson stated in a recent interview withThe New York Timesthat she and her co-stars on The Color Purple only received “a lot of stuff on that set” because she fought behind the scenes for it.
Taraji P. Henson criticizes ‘The Color Purple’ production for making cast drive themselves to set in rental cars.pic.twitter.com/hblRmzbzji
One example was travel to the film’s Atlanta set, as the production allegedly initially offered rental cars that the cast would have to drive themselves: “They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous. Now they robbing people. What do I look like, taking myself to work by myself in a rental car?” Henson explained.
“So I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?’ I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, ‘Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.’ Well,doit for everybody! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for. It wears on your soul because you fight so hard to establish a name for yourself and be respected in this town to no avail.
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Henson continued, “With Black films, they just don’t want to take us overseas and I don’t understand that. Black translates all over the world, so why wouldn’t the movies? I have a following in China of all places. Y’all not going to capitalize on that? Don’t everybody want to make money here? I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time, but what else is it, then? Tell me. I’d rather it not be race, please give me something else.”
There had also allegedly been other issues, as revealed by co-star Danielle Brooks in a Q&A withTHR, including a lack of food and trailers: “I remember when we first came and we’re doing rehearsals, they put us all in the same space,” Brooks stated. “We didn’t have our own dressing rooms at the time. We didn’t have our own food…[Oprah] corrected it for us. [Henson] was our voice. This was my first studio film. Sometimes you do come in saying, ‘Ok, I’ll take whatever they give me. I’m just happy to be here.’ But [Henson] spoke up for us.”
These comments have sparked debate on X (formerly Twitter) about what actors should be entitled to on set. Some have been dismissive, withone userclaiming: “You know who else drives themselves to set? The crew members. And their physical labor is much more intense than acting. Get over it.”
While others have used it to comment on ongoing issues within the industry. Check out the range of comments below:
for those who don’t know, it is industry standard for lead actors on this big of a project to have a driver or a talent assistant who drives them (primarily for their own safety, and after shooting days that can be 10+ hours).this is low budget behavior from a big budget film.
Even on lower budget projects the actors get Uber Black car service to set, promo, or back home. This is beyond cheap for a movie that will gross millions at box officehttps://t.co/Rb4ZC6OTtE
Is this a joke? Women drive themselves to work every day in Atlanta. Is she more special than them?
Why did she even do the damn movie if she was going to complain about it every chance she gets? They could’ve found another actress. 🤷🏾♀️
I did PA for a commercial & had to drive the cast and crew from their hotel to set it’s not much to ask of from a 100 million dollar budget film
As Henson had said, “I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time,” but when comparing the movie to another big-budget female-led film that released in 2023,Barbie, and how there had beencast slumber parties and treats on set, it does raise questions about how the cast of The Color Purple was allegedly treated.
The Color Purple is currently playing in cinemas. Find out more about the moviehere, and see more of our Movies & TV coveragehere.
