OPRAH CAN FINALLY PAY HOMAGE TO ZORA
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" project underway.
*Oprah is heading back to the film world
and has chosen another rendition of the black
experience for the small screen.
After more than two years in development,
ABC and Oprah Winfrey are moving forward with
production of "Their Eyes Were Watching God,"
which will star Halle Berry, reports the Hollywood
Reporter.
The Harpo production is also set to include
Michael Ealy, Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson,
and Emmy winner Ruby Dee. The film is adapted
from Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel, which
was hailed as a masterpiece of African
American literature.
Berry will play the central character to the
novel, Janie Crawford. The character is a non-traditional
1920s woman who searches for identity and happiness
through three marriages with three very different men
which puts her in opposition with some of the locals
in the small Florida town. The demeanor of the
character closely connects with Hurston as it
has been written that women in areas in Florida
where she had done her research didn't take
kindly to her.
Winfrey will serve as an executive producer,
along with Quincy Jones, who was a producer on
Steven Spielberg's 1985 film "The Color Purple,"
which starred Winfrey. Suzan-Lori Parks who
wrote the Broadway play "Topdog/Underdog",
featuring Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright and is
the first black woman playwright to win
the Pulitzer Prize, wrote the script.
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