Danielle Brooks Injured Her Back While Filming A Pivotal Scene In 'The Color Purple'
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Danielle Brooks injured her back while filming a pivotal scene in The Color Purple.
The actress explained that she had to go to physical therapy to heal from the injury.
Danielle is nominated for a Screen Actor's Guild Award for her role as Sofia.
Danielle Brooks is not only presenting at the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday night, but she's also nominated for a SAG Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance as Sofia in The Color Purple. Of course, this isn't Danielle's only recognition this awards season—she's also been nominated for an Oscar.
The Orange Is The New Black alum, 34, first took on the role of Sofia in the 2015 stage revival of The Color Purple on Broadway, earning a Tony nomination in the process. Now, her emotional film performance is being lauded by critics and fans alike.
And the actress deserves all the accolades as she certainly put her all into this role. “It really did deplete me—physically, mentally, spiritually,” Danielle told The New York Times. “I was drained at the end of doing this part.” Danielle even injured her back while filming a pivotal scene an intense scene, she recently shared with IndieWire. Here's everything to know about Danielle's back injury and recovery:
Danielle pulled out her back filming an emotional scene.
Lovers of the Alice Walker novel and the Broadway musical will recall a pivotal scene when Sofia is arrested because she does not want to work as a maid for a white woman, and a white mob attacks her. Danielle told IndieWire she wanted to give this scene her all by “swinging back and forth, trying to get the mob off of me,” which “really took a toll” on her body. “I ended up having to do that scene over the course of two days for multiple hours a day, and it pulled my back out,” she told the outlet.
Danielle had the advantage of being one of two actors (along with Fantasia Barrino, who plays Celie) to move from the Broadway production of the beloved novel to the most recent on-screen adaptation. This made her familiar with the physicality of this scene, but still, it was a whole new world acting it on a film set versus a stage, Danielle explained.
“When we did the mob scene on Broadway, you don’t even see it. You just see me come down center stage and fall to my knees, and then you’ll see I lift my head up, and now I’ve transformed into a new version, a downtrodden, spirit-stolen Sofia, which I can sustain for a year,” she told Indiewire.
But adapting that pivotal scene for the film meant showing the attack in full force—and Danielle didn't hold back. “It’s much different doing [it for real] and having 10 to 15 guys surrounding you, and you are wanting to put everything in it because you want it to make sense from every angle, to not feel like you phoned it in,” she said. “I pride myself on being a physical actor. That’s where I live. I love finding how I can use all of my body for the character. I just want to use everything that I can.”
She received physical therapy while shooting the movie.
The two days of filming were so intense on Danielle’s body that she needed physical therapy afterward. “Doing it over and over, that really took me out, where I had to do physical therapy and go to the chiropractor for a few weeks to recover while still having to work,” she told Indiewire.
"I had to get a chiropractor to adjust me several times to continue to shoot," Danielle added to NYT. "You come in the next day, having an injury, and have to wear this 15-pound pregnancy belly that’s hurting your back. Then you go into the prison scene and you’re having to live in this emotional place for hours."
This isn’t Danielle's only nod for The Color Purple.
It seems like Danielle’s hard work and dedication are paying off, as she’s already gathered a ton of nominations for this role. Danielle was nominated for a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Award, a Screen Actor’s Guild award, and an Oscar.
This officially makes Danielle an EGOT nominee!
“I am still processing the fact that I became an Academy Award Nominee yesterday for a role that means everything to me,” she shared on Instagram after the announcement. “The Color Purple has changed my life in ways I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express, but MY GOD!! Look What God Has Done!”
When a post on X, formally known as Twitter, shared Danielle’s newest accomplishment, she responded with a cheeky caption: “Somebody has caught on. ??”
Somebody has caught on. ?? https://t.co/nFtxU8YsM5
— Danielle Brooks (@thedanieb) January 26, 2024
We're all rooting for you, Danielle!
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