Riding a wave of five Grammy Awards, including album of the year in early April, Jon Batiste is now turning his attention to the art of acting.
The 35-year-old singer-songwriter has signed on to join the cast for The Color Purple remake, which will be joined by such powerful names as Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones, all serving as producers.
In his big-screen acting debut, Batiste will play the role of Grady, an easygoing, good-natured piano man who is the husband of Shug Avery, according to Deadline.
From music to acting, 35-year-old Jon Batiste is set to make his big-screen acting debut in the musical adaptation of The Color Purple
Many fans know Batiste as the bandleader and musical director of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert since its release in 2015.
He has also released six studio albums since 2005, most recently We Are, which helped him win his Album Of The Year Grammy in 2022. Batiste has also released three collaborative albums, two soundtrack albums and five live albums over the years.
The New Orleans graduate of the Juilliard School has received a host of accolades throughout his musical career, including winning a BAFTA award and an Oscar for Best Original Score for Soul, which he shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
In addition to his 11 nominations and five Grammy wins a few weeks ago, the musician has three other nominations: Best American Roots Performance for St. James Infirmary Blues (2019), Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for Chronology of a Dream: Live at The Village Vanguard (2021) and Best New Age Album Meditations (shared with Cory Wong), also 2021.
Batiste has been commissioned to curate a multi-concert series at Carnegie Hall this year.
Acclaimed: Batiste is riding the momentum to win five Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; He is pictured at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022
The Color Purple follows the lifelong struggles of an African American woman living in the South in the early 1900s.
Fantasia Barrino stars as Celie Harris alongside Colman Domingo (Mister), Taraji P. Henson (Shug Avery), Corey Hawkins (Harpo), Danielle Brooks (Sofia), HER (Squeak), Ciara (Nettie) and Louis Gossett Jr. (Ol’ Mister) and David Alan Grier (Reverend Avery), among others.
The film, directed by Blitz Bazawule, is an adaptation of the 2005 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name and is based on Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Executive Producers are Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini and Mara Jacobs.
Scott Sanders is also co-producing along with Spielberg, who directed and produced the original 1985 film; Winfrey, who brings to the table her experience starring in the first film as Sofia; as did Quincy Jones, who was a producer.
The Original: The Steven Spielberg-directed version of The Color Purple (1985), starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover as Celia and Mister
Back for more: Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones, who all worked on the 1985 film adaptation, are all serving as producers on the new musical adaptation
Spielberg’s version, which starred Whoopi Goldberg as Celie Harris and Danny Glover as “Mister” Albert Johnson, received critical acclaim, particularly for the acting, including Goldberg’s performance, as well as for the direction, screenplay, musical score, and production values.
It was a box office hit, grossing $142 million on a budget of just $15 million.
The original Broadway musical ran from 2005 to 2008 and received 11 Tony Award nominations in 2006, with LaChanze winning Best Actress in a Musical as Celie.
An acclaimed Broadway revival began in late 2015 and ran through early 2017, winning two Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and Cynthia Erivo for Best Actress in a Musical in her Broadway debut.
The musical has also won Grammy and Emmy awards.
Filming on the new coming-of-age musical drama began in March 2022 and production took place on Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia.
The Color Purple is scheduled to premiere in US theaters on December 20, 2023.
On Top: Blitz Bazawule, 39, is directing the new musical version of The Color Purple, which is slated to premiere in US theaters on December 20, 2023