Following his five Grammy wins, including this month’s album of the year, Oscar winner Jon Batiste has joined the remake of The Color Purple, which is being produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones.
Batiste, who has been bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since 2015, will make his acting debut on the big screen as Grady, an easygoing, good-natured piano man who is the epitome of charm and eloquence, the husband of Shug Avery (Taraji P .Henson). Bennet Guillory played the role in the 1985 feature film.
Born in New Orleans, Batiste is a Juilliard graduate who last year won an Original Score Oscar and a BAFTA Award for Soul, which he shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Along with his Grammy haul two weeks ago — including the coveted Album of the Year award for We Are — he’s been nominated 14 times by the Recording Academy since 2019. He will be curating a multi-concert series at Carnegie Hall this year.
Blitz Bazawule (Black Is King) is directing the Warner Bros. musical based on the Tony-winning Broadway show from a screenplay by Marcus Gardley based on Alice Walker’s novel. Scott Sanders is also producing alongside Spielberg, who directed and produced the original film; Winfrey, who starred in it; and Jones, who was also the producer of the first picture. Walker, Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini and Mara Jacobs are executive producers.
The original Broadway musical debuted in 2005, garnered 11 Tony Award nominations in 2006, and won for LaChanze’s role as Celie. It ran for 910 performances. A 2015 revival garnered four more Tony nominations, winning for Best Revival of a Musical and for Cynthia Erivo in her Broadway debut. The musical has also won Grammy and Emmy awards.
Batiste is represented at Eisner LLP by CAA and attorneys Dan Shulman and Evan Krauss.