Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1514626
T H E C O L O R P U R P L E | P E R S P E C T I V E 4 1 about the music and subsequently, the musical numbers. The film's musical numbers were to cover gospel, blues and jazz and our look of the film would evolve along with the musical styles, as well as keeping pace with the eras. The story starts in 1909 and ends just after the Second World War. Upon arrival in Atlanta in November 2021, I set out with location manager John Latenser and Supervising Art Director Rory Bruen to try to nail down the key locations. The Tree of Life The film begins and ends around a glorious southern live oak tree we discovered on a former plantation south of Savannah. It was a little difficult to visualize for people who hadn't seen it as it was obscured by half a dozen slave quarter buildings built around it for Amazon's The Underground Railroad. We had to employ a team of house movers to jack them up and shift them to another field. Once these were gone, it was a magnificent centerpiece. The final scene of the film was written to be of a multigenerational group of friends and family around a very long Easter dinner table in a field of lilies. However, I felt that since we opened the film during a happy moment in Celie's life, singing while sitting in this tree, it would be a lovely bookend to the story if we could set the happy ending here as well. Set decorator Larry Dias and his team created a beautiful ring of patchwork quilt-covered tables around the base of the tree, which set the stage for the final song of the film, "The Color Purple." A. HARPO'S JUKE JOINT. LOCATION BUILD REQUIRED PARTIAL DRAINING OF SWAMP NEAR COVINGTON, GA. SET PHOTO. B. HARPO'S JUKE JOINT. STAGE BUILD AT BLACKHALL STUDIOS, STAGE 8. SET PHOTO. C. HARPO'S JUKE JOINT. STAGE BUILD. PRODUCTION STILL. B C