They were seeing the color red.
Actresses Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks have credited Oprah Winfrey for coming to their aid as the actresses described subpar conditions on the new “The Color Purple” set.
“I remember when we first came in and we were doing rehearsal and they put us all in the same space and we didn’t have our own dressing rooms at the time,” Brooks, 34, said during a live Q&A session on Friday with the film’s cast.
According to the actress, they also were not given any food.
“You corrected it for us,” Brooks told Winfrey, 69, who said she heard about the situation from Henson, 53.
“This is my first Studio film so sometimes you do come in just saying ‘Okay well I’m going to just take whatever they give me, I’m just happy to be here’ you know, but [Henson] spoke up for us and you showed me how to do that,” Brooks elaborated.
In a separate interview, Henson also revealed that she also considered leaving the project after she and several other cast members were given rental cars instead of drivers.
“They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous. Now they robbing people,” Henson said during an interview with The New York Times.
“What do I look like, taking myself to work by myself in a rental car? So I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?’ I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, ‘Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.’”
According to the “Empire” alum, she fought back against the decision.
“Well, do it for everybody! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for,” she said. “I was on the set of ‘Empire’ fighting for trailers that wasn’t infested with bugs.”
Henson told the outlet that these types of situations take a toll on her “because you fight so hard to establish a name for yourself and be respected in this town to no avail.”
“With Black films, they just don’t want to take us overseas and I don’t understand that,” she added. “Black translates all over the world, so why wouldn’t the movies? I have a following in China of all places.”
“Y’all not going to capitalize on that? Don’t everybody want to make money here,” the “Hidden Figures” star continued. “I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time, but what else is it, then? Tell me. I’d rather it not be race, please give me something else.”
The actress — who made headlines after she fired her entire PR team following her stint on the musical drama — broke down in tears regarding the unequal pay in Hollywood.
“I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost,” Henson sobbed during a SiriusXM interview with Gayle King. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The math ain’t mathing.”
“When you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole team behind us,” the Oscar nominee said. “They have to get paid. When you hear someone go, ‘Such and such made $10 million,’ that didn’t make it to their account.”
“Off the top, Uncle Sam is getting 50%. Now have $5 million. Your team is getting 30% off what you gross, not after what Uncle Same took. Now do the math,” she explained.
